


Candid Moments

by Lohrendrell



Category: Naruto
Genre: All the cheesy, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Cheesy, Childhood, Childhood Sweethearts, Everything is Beautiful and Nothing Hurts, F/M, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Gen, M/M, Some Humor
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-15
Updated: 2016-12-31
Packaged: 2018-05-06 21:52:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 33,693
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5432117
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lohrendrell/pseuds/Lohrendrell
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ensemble holiday fic: connected shorts depicting moments of Sasuke and Naruto's lives as they grow up, all set some time in December and following Christmas-related themes. Written for the 12 Days of SNS Xmas.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Their (Second) First Christmas

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the [12 Days](http://sns-xmas.tumblr.com/post/134323678199/12-days-of-sns-xmas) of [SNS Xmas 2015](http://sns-xmas.tumblr.com/) on Tumblr.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Day 1: First Christmas.

On the boys’ first Christmas, Minato, Kushina, Mikoto and Fugaku decided to have a “neighbors-cum-sort-of-extended-family” gathering.

In all honesty, it hadn’t actually been planned. Minato and Kushina had had everything prepared to visit her mother on the neighbor state, but the heaviest blizzard in eight years suddenly fell down; all the roads were blocked and the planes weren’t flying. As for the Uchiha, there would be a party for everyone in that big family just outside town, but Itachi fell ill with fever just one day previously, “Because he was playing outside in the snow even when I told him not to,” according to Mikoto, so Fugaku and her decided it was best not to go.

Still in all honesty, it wasn’t actually Naruto’s and Sasuke’s first Christmas, either. The boys were already one, just turned it a couple and five months ago, respectively, only now starting to effectively explore the world with their own legs and voicing their findings and subsequent questions. They didn’t remember their actual first Christmas, and Minato was sure they wouldn’t remember this one as well, but in his opinion, it was just okay. It meant he could throw at least more three or four First Christmas celebrations without Naruto pointing out that, well, it really wasn’t.

“No, wait, no,” came Kushina’s scream, “look out!”

Thanks to the very fast reflexes nature had given him, Minato was able to deviate from a three meters tall tree that would’ve fallen right on his head — _and Naruto’s_.

“Kushina!” he nearly yelled, frowning at her. Usually he didn’t show concern, annoyance, or any kind of disapproval feelings and gestures towards his wife — even because, he had to face it, she was too amazing to deserve it; really — but Naruto was in his arms. What if he weren’t fast enough and Naruto fell from his grip, hit his head, and from there to worse?

“Sorry, sorry!” Kushina said. “Are you two okay?”

“Yeah, but what if we weren’t?!” He thought this phrase would set Kushina up and they would start an argument. She was for the opinion that Minato had become way too overprotective after becoming a father, while Minato thought he was just being a responsible parent.

But apparently she understood the — tremendous, terrible, nearly disastrous — gravity of that particular situation, so she just apologized again: “I know, I know. I _f’d_ up. I’m sorry!” She didn’t even try to get close to them; Minato wouldn’t let her, anyway.

Fugaku approached with Sasuke in his arms. “Let me help you,” he said to Kushina, who was trying to lift the tree up again, and gave Sasuke for Minato to hold.

Because both couples had planned to travel, their homes hadn’t even been decorated this year. So they joined efforts to find all _findable_ Christmas decorations in their basements, combine the food in their fridges and buy the first (worst) tree they could find at a reasonable price. With the two babies balanced in his arms, gibbering and grabbing each other’s faces, Minato watched while Fugaku and Kushina lifted the tree a few centimeters, only to have it falling again. He thought it would be better to get the babies away from the dangerous tree (and the clumsy, therefore, more dangerous woman), so he went to the kitchen.

Mikoto was busy cooking something on the stove. Years of experience and Fugaku’s advice had taught him not to bother her too much when she was cooking, so he tried to be brief: “How’s Itachi doing?”

“Better. The fever went down,” she told him as she chopped some vegetables. “It’s just a cold, don’t worry too much. I put him in bed to rest for a while.”

Even though she told him not to worry, Minato couldn’t help it. Itachi had been all alone upstairs for more than half an hour already, what if something had happened? He went back to the living room, where that terrible tree was finally up. There were all kinds of decorations scattered across the floor: wreaths and garlands, colored lights, a big pointy star that could hurt Naruto’s or Sasuke’s skin, an ugly Santa that was from Kushina’s grandmother and had scared Naruto, big glittered balls for the tree everywhere, some of which he could very well trip onto and drop the boys on the floor…

Minato decided to go upstairs, convinced that it would be better for the babies’ safety and in order to check on the bigger baby.

Itachi was sleeping in one of the twin beds in the guest room. Laying Naruto and Sasuke on the other bed, Minato checked to see if he was warm; he wasn’t, no more than what’s natural for someone who’s wrapped in more or less ten thousand blankets. He let Itachi rest and took the babies to Naruto’s room, where he played with them for a while.

As a proudly assumed silly dad, Minato liked to make funny faces and weird sounds to make the babies laugh. He also liked to mess with the toys, move them around the children while telling stories they most likely weren’t understanding. Usually kids loved him for that, especially the younger ones, and when they guffawed and looked up at him breathless and with reddened cheeks, it made him feel great. Like he was actually fluent in that gibberish language of theirs and, therefore, was the coolest dad in the world. That was a self-declared title he was always ready to defend.

However, all his stories and faces and sock puppets didn’t usually work on Naruto and Sasuke. Sometimes — mostly, in Naruto’s case — when they were apart, but never when they were together. Playing with Naruto and Sasuke when they were together, Minato was just starting to realize, meant mostly watching them play only with each other. Mikoto had pointed it once, that Naruto and Sasuke seemingly gravitated toward each other whenever they could, and even other kids were often left out of their regular gibbering and wide-eyed face-grabbing. It was simultaneously adorable and hilarious, she always said, and she proved it by filming them doing it a couple of times.

Watching them doing it now, Minato thought, finally giving up and lowering the sock puppets to the ground, was more than just adorable and hilarious: it was also soothing, in a way. Naruto and Sasuke really seemed to get along well, moving around, reaching for and blabbering to each other like they were in a very thoughtful, very interesting conversation. The exchange consisted mostly of Naruto saying “K’ma, K’ma” (meaning Kurama, the name of an orange plush fox Minato had bought him when he was born, his favourite plush toy) and Sasuke replying “Tachi, Tachi” (meaning Itachi, his first word). 

After watching, amused, for at least half an hour, maybe more, the children started showing signs of sleepiness. Minato checked their diapers, changed Sasuke’s, and then put the babies together in Naruto’s crib.

Minato watched them as they slowly fell asleep. He’d put each baby side by side, on their backs, and they immediately turn their heads to stare at each other until their eyes couldn’t stay open anymore, managing to snuggle a bit closer in the process.

It was a bit odd, Minato thought, those two kids, so young and so comfortable around one another. They were napping easily without so much of a care to the world, the back of their hands brushing the other’s slightly. If nothing else, Minato would certainly say Naruto and Sasuke gravitated towards each other. Which was fine; again, it was soothing, as much as it was a bit odd. In a good way, perhaps. Maybe he was seeing the first signs of a great friendship.

Minato thought about it. He couldn’t name one person whom he shared a childhood story with and who had stuck with him through adulthood. He had no friends left from infancy, couldn’t even remember who were his childhood best friends anymore. The realization made him feel a tad bit melancholic, in that way only felt during the most symbolic holidays.

And then there was his first son and the neighbor’s son, who happened to meet and get along really well since the very first months of their lives. It sparkled that kind of nostalgic hope only the most symbolic holidays could ignite. He thought of taking a picture of that image — Kushina and Mikoto would definitely love to see that scene — but decided against it. Somehow, the moment felt private, or maybe he was just selfish and wanted a memory of his baby son and his baby best friend all for himself. 

Minato imagined if Naruto and Sasuke would be close friends throughout childhood, then the chaotic teenagehood, and even when they reached adulthood. He certainly hoped so. He liked Sasuke’s family enough; Sasuke would most likely turn into a good kid, and if luck was on his side, Minato would be there to help him be so. The most overprotective side of him felt some comfort with that though, in the idea of being privileged with knowing one of, or possibly _the_ person Naruto trusted the most, even before Naruto himself knew who he was.


	2. Matching Feet

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Day 2: Winter.

On the winter of when Sasuke was nine years old, a series of terrible crimes broke in the news: a group of people dressed as Santa and Mama Clauses were kidnapping children in the mall and in the streets. It was all over the place, and it was happening nearby Sasuke’s neighborhood, and probably because of that everyone was scared and sounded like they were going crazy, even the adults. Especially the adults. Especially the adults in Sasuke’s life.

It was Christmas Eve and none of the crazy adults of his life were around; Sasuke was alone in the house because Mother and Father couldn’t get away from work this year, and Itachi went on a Christmas trip with Shisui and his parents. But that didn’t mean that Christmas that year would suck: since he was alone, and, therefore, unsupervised, he was very excited to spend the whole night awake, watching all the mysterious — but certainly amazing — things that were on TV after midnight. Maybe he could call Naruto so they would do it together, it would definitely add to the fun.

His plans, however, were ruined when Mother called the home line and told him to get ready, because Naruto’s mom was about to pick him up to stay with her and Naruto in their house. Of all the adults, she was the only one who got to be free from work on Christmas, and so she agreed to stay with Sasuke for the night.

Sasuke complained, of course, which earned him a quick scolding.

“I said go, Sasuke, now,” his mother told him, in a tone he understood was final. Sasuke huffed, but said okay. He didn’t understand why he had to stay with someone, though, given the fact he was big enough to take care of himself. “You’ll understand when you become a parent,” his mother said, as if reading his thoughts, before ending the call.

He did as he was told, putting some warm clothes on and a winter cap on his head. In less than ten minutes Naruto’s mom was ringing the bell of his home. He didn’t open up before checking it was her through the magic eye, though, and he made sure to tell her that much.

“Good! That’s how it is,” Kushina congratulated, smiling at him. “Keep on the good work. Now let’s go.” She put some more warm clothes on Sasuke, because it was really cold outside, the coldest since the winter of when Sasuke was one year old, and led him outside, locking everything behind them.

Naruto’s home was just beside Sasuke’s own. They were neighbors, and going there didn’t take more than twenty seconds. Eight, if Sasuke ran really fast (he would know; he had counted it). Sasuke was used to go to Naruto’s alone all the time, so he didn’t understand why he had to wait for Naruto’s mom to pick him up this time. He voiced it to Kushina, who, among all the adults, was usually the most understanding to Sasuke’s and Naruto’s arguments, but she just repeated what his mother had told him: “It’s not safe out there, Sasuke. You’ll understand when you become a parent.”

It was at that moment that Sasuke silently vowed to himself that, when he did became a parent, he would not be a lame one, like the ones he knew. He would be a cool dad.

Despite the usual twenty seconds it usually took (in the summer), it was snowing heavily that night, so the trip to Naruto’s home took exactly one hundred and thirty two seconds (Sasuke counted). That was a little over two minutes.

Naruto was sitting in the living room, hugging his legs and watching the TV intently. He jumped when the door opened, then quickly reached for the remote and fumbled with it.

“You weren’t watching the news, were you?” Kushina asked as she closed the door. Naruto mumbled something, finally managing to change to the cartoons channel, but didn’t really answer anything. “Naruto! I told you not to watch anything about that. It isn’t good for you.”

“Rabbit Goddess,” Naruto argued, pointing to the TV, where Princess Ootsutsuki was attacking the first monster villain of the series.

She sighed, then lowered down to Sasuke’s level. “Stay with him, alright?” she said, helping Sasuke out of a couple of sweaters. “I need to check the thermostat. Behave.” She kissed his forehead.

Sasuke didn’t pay any attention to her anymore, focused entirely on Naruto. He took off his winter shoes, leaving them neatly beside three other pairs, and went, socks only, to where Naruto was. He sat down beside his best friend in the living room, on the floor, their backs against the couch, and pretended to watch a rerun of an old episode of Rabbit Goddess in silence.

It didn’t took too long for Naruto to ask, quietly, “Your mom and dad didn’t let you stay alone? I heard Mom on the phone.”

Sasuke shook his head, even though he knew Naruto wasn’t looking at him. “They’re scared,” he said. “Everyone is.”

Naruto nodded. “I’m not,” he mumbled, so low Sasuke almost didn’t hear it.

(Sasuke knew he was lying.)

They kept watching the TV. Princess Ootsutsuki had just beaten up Shukaku-san and was just about to discover the truth about him (that would make them become friends later on — Sasuke had watched all the episodes Rabbit Goddess twice already; he knew everything about that show) when there was a commercial break. The first commercial was of a brand of soda that Sasuke hated and Naruto loved, which was fine, but then in the second one Santa appeared, and Naruto jumped. He quickly fumbled with the remote until he changed the channel. When it finally changed from Santa to some woman talking about food, he unceremoniously let the device fall on the floor. Sasuke picked it up.

“It’s gone,” he said, pointing with the remote to the woman cutting some carrots. “No need to be scared.”

“I’m not scared,” Naruto said. His cheeks were red and his eyes wide, which meant he was lying. Sasuke didn’t like when Naruto lied to him, so, just to spite him and make him tell the truth, he changed it to the news channel, where they would probably be talking about the Criminal Santas.

They were, and when the news woman said, “They were last seen outside the Leaf Mall,” which was just a few blocks away from their homes, Naruto let out a shriek.

“Is everything okay?” came Kushina’s voice from the other room — she was probably checking the thermostat, and probably doing it wrong; suddenly it started getting colder in the house.

“We’re fine,” Sasuke told her, changing the channel again to the food woman. He turned to Naruto. “Yes, you are.”

“Am not.”

“Yes, you are.”

“Am not!”

“You are!”

“Am. Not!”

“You. Are!”

“Am no—” Commercial breaks, and Santa appeared in the screen. “Ahg! Okay!” Naruto hid his face behind his face. “I _aaaam_. Now turn it off,” he whined.

Sasuke turned back to Rabbit Goddess, feeling satisfied. He waited for Naruto’s mom to come to see what the yelling was all about, but she didn’t. Maybe she hadn’t heard it this time? Shrugging it off, Sasuke turned to Naruto, who was still wide eyed, watching Princess Ootsutsuki as if it were the only good thing in the world. The satisfaction of winning from him was quickly replaced by guilt, one kind Sasuke didn’t like at all. Naruto never liked Santa, it scared him, and sometimes he hated Christmas for that. And Sasuke knew it. He really didn’t like when Naruto lied to him, but he didn’t like to see his best friend scared or hurt, either. Especially not by the one thing that scared him the most.

“No need to be scared,” Sasuke repeated, though he knew it wouldn’t be too effective. Naruto didn’t respond, just hugged his knees tighter and didn’t lift his head.

For a moment, Sasuke thought it would be better to just call Naruto’s mom and explain the situation (the adults didn’t really know of Naruto’s fear of Santa; it was one of their many secrets), but then he thought better of it, and decided the best thing to do was snuggle against Naruto and wait. The Rabbit Goddess episode reached its end, but another one started. Apparently they were marathoning it.

It took a while, but it eventually worked. Naruto relaxed enough beside him that he lifted his head and stretched his legs. He was still shaking, though, and although Sasuke couldn’t be sure if it was from the fear or the cold, he decided to get up to get a blanket.

Naruto grabbed his hand. “Don’t,” he said, a bit panicky.

“I’m just gonna grab us a blanket in your room,” Sasuke told him, “wanna come with me?”

“No,” Naruto answered, “but…” he trailed off.

“It’ll be quick, I promise,” Sasuke assured him, and then advised, “Close your eyes in the commercial breaks.”

In order to keep his word, Sasuke ran upstairs as fast as he could (which was pretty fast; Sasuke was the faster of his class). He accidentally took the remote with him. In Naruto’s bedroom, he quickly went to the blankets drawer, and didn’t even look as he grabbed the first one on the top. He ran back downstairs, and found Naruto hugging his knees again, head buried between them, as Santa on TV drank a can of that terrible soda.

“See? I told you it was fast,” Sasuke said as he sat down beside him. Naruto nearly jumped at his voice, but lifted his head to look at Sasuke, wide and teary eyed. “No need to cry.”

“I’m not crying,” Naruto whined, but snuggled tightly against Sasuke. Which turned out to be a good thing, both because Sasuke actually liked it and because the blanked he ended up grabbing was too small for the both of them. Sasuke managed to arrange it so it covered most of their bodies together, but it turned out that their sock-clad feet were left out. Sasuke’s socks were blue and purple from the Team Taka from Super Shinobis, and Naruto’s were orange and black from Fuzzy Fox. Sasuke was looking at it, just admiring the contrast of the colors, not even paying attention to the TV, when Naruto suddenly said, “Trade socks with me.”

Sasuke turned to him. “What?”

“Trade socks with me.”

“Why?”

“Because…” Naruto babbled, whispering, something Sasuke didn’t understand. Then he fixed it: “Because it’s gonna be fun!”

Sasuke really didn’t want his feet to get even colder than they were, but Naruto kept insisting, and when he reached down to actually take Sasuke’s socks himself, Sasuke gave in. However, Naruto didn’t take both socks. He only took one of each pair, quickly replacing each one with the other.

For some reason he couldn’t fathom, Sasuke felt a bit embarrassed to watch Naruto put a sock on his left foot, but he kept quiet about it.

When it was done, Naruto was smiling widely at him, that mischievous smile that usually meant fun _and_ trouble later on. Sasuke wanted to ask questions, but Naruto didn’t look like he wanted to answer them, so he decided to shrug them off. At least he didn’t look terrified anymore.

Watching Rabbit Goddess like this was much more comfortable, Sasuke had to admit. It was warm, to snuggle up like that, even though it didn’t do much for their feet. He kept dividing his attention between the TV and their matching pair of socks. Every once in a while, Sasuke would brush his feet against Naruto, both to warm them up and to reassure Naruto that he was here, that they were okay. Naruto, in turn, would do the same to Sasuke, and laugh at him when he brushed a little bit too sudden, making Sasuke jump — not out of fear, just because, well, because Naruto sucked.

“I don’t suck, you suck.”

“I don’t suck, you suck,” Sasuke replied.

“I don’t suck, you suck,” was Naruto’s rhetoric, and that went on for a couple of minutes until Naruto’s mom showed up.

“Alright, good news and bad news. The bad news is that the thermostat is broken,” she admitted, though it wasn’t even news anymore. “The good news is that I know what’s the problem and already called Minato. He’ll bring the tools I need to fix it. We’re not gonna spend the night freezing, okay? Don’t worry!” She smiled at them, and at that moment, Sasuke thought her smile was very similar to Naruto’s, especially when they were on the verge of freaking out but too proud to let anyone else know. “I’m gonna make us some hot chocolate, okay? And tea, too, Sasuke.” With that, she retreated to the kitchen.

Sasuke turned to Naruto, but, “We’re not gonna freeze to death,” Naruto affirmed before he could say anything. “We’re protected.” He looked at their feet, and Sasuke followed suit.

He vaguely remembered some character saying something similar in some cartoon, but he couldn’t remember exactly who or which one…

“Believe me,” Naruto said, and so Sasuke decided he would.

“Is this you being brave?” he asked his friend, because he couldn’t miss the opportunity to mess with him.

Naruto pouted. “Of course it is! I’m always brave.”

“Uh-huh.” Sasuke rolled his eyes. “Except when it’s…” He didn’t finish; he wouldn’t, and Naruto wouldn’t let him.

“Shut up! I am,” he yelled, then finished, more quietly, “Santa is just an exception.”

Sasuke felt like laughing, because Naruto’s face was all red and pathetic. He just bumped his shoulder to Naruto’s, instead. “When it’s about Santa,” he assured his best friend, “I can be brave for the both of us.”

Naruto nodded. He liked the idea. “Right. And when it’s about your mom, I can be the brave one.”

“As if we weren’t afraid of her.”

“I’m not!” Naruto said, and despite of what he’d just said, Sasuke knew it was true. He really wasn’t, and Sasuke thought it was both dumb and amazing. Even Itachi was afraid, at least on some level, of Mother.

“Deal,” he said, at the same moment Kushina came to them with two mugs in her hands: hot chocolate with marshmallow for Naruto and chamomile tea for Sasuke. She also made a cup of hot chocolate for herself, and even sat down to watch TV with them for a while, but didn’t stay for too long.

Mug in his hands, Sasuke tried to concentrate on Princess Ootsutsuki visiting Shukaku-san’s nest, but he kept getting distracted by their matching socks. He had to admit, those socks, one from each pair in their feet, looked pretty hero-y in both of them. Naruto’s mom didn’t comment anything about it, though, perhaps she didn’t even notice it. Which was just fine, in Sasuke’s opinion. That way, they would have one more secret only theirs.

They paused for commercials again, and the image of Santa appeared one more time just as Naruto’s mom got up to answer the phone.

“No need to be scared,” Sasuke repeated another time that night, whispering so just Naruto would hear. Naruto didn’t jump at the sight of Santa, though, he merely looked at their matching feet. 

“We’re protected,” Naruto said. He wasn’t shaking with fear anymore, nor he was hugging his knees tightly, head down; he was much more calm, but still didn’t look at the TV when he asked, in a whisper, “You don’t think they’d come here, do you?”

Sasuke tried to think about it the way Itachi would.

“No,” he concluded. “The reports say they only act near malls and parks,” he said, quoting what he heard earlier as his father watched the news, “so there’s no way they’d come all the way here.”

Naruto nodded, but didn’t say anything, so Sasuke felt the need to complete:

“And even if they did, we wouldn’t be dumb enough to fall for their tricks.”

Naruto nodded again. “I’m not dumb.”

“You’re not,” Sasuke agreed.

“And my mom is here.”

He nodded.

“And soon my dad will be here, too.”

Sasuke agreed again, though he honestly would feel more at ease if the ones who’d be here soon were Itachi, his father and his mother. But he got Naruto’s point.

“We’re gonna be okay,” Naruto said, turning to Sasuke. He was smiling, and Sasuke smiled back.

“Right.”

If he weren’t here, Sasuke thought, Naruto would probably be all alone, fixated on watching the TV as they talked about the Criminal Santas, cold because the thermostat was broken and his mom away, trying to fix it. He would be so scared, too scared to do anything else other than watch the TV and freeze by himself. It would probably give him nightmares at night. Suddenly, Sasuke realized his mother wasn’t so lame, after all. She probably was really, really smart, and maybe Sasuke would make sure she knew that much when she came home from work.


	3. Konoha Elementary’s Winter Break Confraternization — The Special Edition: Christmas Treasure Hunt

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Day 3: Holiday Roleplay.

Kushina was part of the parents council in the elementary school her son attended. Every year, the parents and the teachers helped organize a confraternization to celebrate winter break and Christmas in advance. The kids loved it, of course, mainly because those were the few times they were allowed to run like crazy in the school corridors without being reprimanded for it.

That year, because Kushina was feeling like doing something special for Naruto’s last year on that school (and because she honestly could not stand another year of that bullshit, would _not_ fake another single smile to those obnoxious parents who didn’t know the difference between raising and spoiling a child), she proposed a different theme for the party: a treasure hunt for a Christmas party.

Convincing the parents was easy. She just had to ask for their money and guarantee she would take care of everything and they wouldn’t need to worry about nothing, which, of course, was readily accepted (those nincompoops — ugh!). Convincing the school board and the teachers was much more difficult, but in the end, she managed it.

And so, after many weeks of hard work and a lot of help from Mikoto, Tsume, and the lovely Iruka-sensei, the “Konoha Elementary’s Winter Break Confraternization — The Special Edition: Christmas Treasure Hunt” was happening. (With the bonus points of Naruto loving the name.)

“Whoah. You really outdid yourself with this one,” Minato said when they arrived at the school and he saw the decorations the four of them had set up. “It’s definitely gonna be a hit with all those kids.”

Kushina smiled widely at her husband, feeling proud of herself. Despite being winter and snowing heavy, they chose to theme the party with pirates (it was her idea). There were beach and ships decorations in the corridors and in the classrooms, fake swords for battles hanging in the walls, along with some drawings made by the children themselves, and even plastic parrots hanging on some windows and doors. The event hadn’t even started yet, and already she saw kids running around, excited to see everything they had done, which made Kushina feel like one of those TV hosts of those amazing party decorations shows. Sort of.

Beside her, Naruto was excited to see everything, too. “Mom! Mom!” he was calling her. “Can I go over there and take a parrot to put in my shoulder?”

Kushina’s smile, which was wide, got even wider. Jackpot, she thought. Of course she had thought about outfits for the kids! “Sure you can, honey. Come on.” She led Naruto to a classroom where they had set up a makeshift dressing room. Iruka-sensei was already there and they helped him choose two nice outfits — one for him, and other for Sasuke, who was going to get there briefly — with what they had available. Naruto got to his parrot and an eyepatch and Sasuke a big pirate hat and a hook made of styrofoam.

Afterwards, she yelled to all the kids, “Gather around,” and did the same to them. The original plan was to give every kid a pirate costume, however, because there wasn’t enough money to buy each kid a nice costume along with all the decorations, they had to be creative and make do with just parts of outfits for each child. They didn’t really mind, as long as they had at least a pirate eyepatch in their faces.

When everyone had arrived, they were ready to let the game begin. The rules were simple: there were maps hanging around in different places in the school, and there were treasures (little gifts, like candy bars, plastic whistles, lollipops, some knick-knacks; just cheap stuff) hidden in random places around the school. Their job was to use the best of their abilities to find as much treasures as they could, and at the end of the afternoon, whoever had collected the most knick-knacks would win a ticket for a free pizza in the pizzeria two blocks from the school.

To say the kids were elated was an understatement. It was funny to see their reactions as Iruka-sensei explained the game and revealed the prize, and it felt really, really nice to see all those little minion running around, yelling, thrilled at something Kushina herself had idealized and worked to put together.

The best part, however, was seeing Naruto absolutely happy with everything. Last year’s Christmas hadn’t been so good, with Minato having to work late right on Christmas Eve, the house cold and the TV unceasingly spreading crime news that terrified Naruto. Kushina knew her son was never a big fan of the figure of Santa, just like she never really liked clowns, even though he liked Christmas (or at least the presents) a lot. Last year’s winter only served to worsen his fear, and she knew, when the first snow fell down and the first decorations appeared in the neighborhood, that she needed to do something different this year.

So she watched with joy her son running across the corridors of the school, invading every classroom in search of the treasures. “Sasuke! Sasuke!” Naruto called every time he thought he’d found something. Sasuke always stopped to analyze the simplified, childish maps they had drawn before following Naruto wherever he went, which didn’t surprise Kushina in the least. Of course they would form a team.

“You really outdid yourself this time,” Minato repeated, walking towards her.

Kushina couldn’t help filling her lungs and letting out a laughter filled with pride. “I did my best,” she said, faking humbleness.

Minato hugged her middle from behind. “It’s making me wish I was a kid again just to dress up and hunt candy,” he confessed, and Kushina laughed; she was sorta having the same feeling, too.

Together, they watched the children going nuts with every finding and the adults doing their best to keep up with them. Most children would run straight to their parents or guardians whenever they found anything, asking them to keep the object safe for the final counting.

Naruto and Sasuke were no exception. They soon found several lollipops and whistles, then hurried to Kushina and Minato, probably the first known adults they saw.

“Mom! Mom! Mom!” Naruto yelled, frantically, but it was Sasuke who explained: “Please guard them well.” With that, they were off again; they didn’t even waited for an answer.

Minato giggled, lollipops and whistles in his hands. “I’m so jealous right now,” he admitted.

Although she tried not to, Kushina ended up paying more attention to her son and his best friend than to the other kids. She knew she shouldn’t be rooting for Naruto and Sasuke, as a neutral host with neutral principles and all, but it was nearly impossible. The funny thing was that, even if she weren’t secretly rooting for Naruto and Sasuke, it wouldn’t matter. During the hunt, they somehow reached an agreement of cooperation, as expected (even though the words ‘agreement’ and ‘cooperation’, to Naruto and Sasuke, meant ‘fighting with tooth and nail until the other one accepted their point of view’), and so were working together to find as much treasures as they could. Which meant pretty much nearly half of all the things they had hidden. No surprises there, at least not for Kushina, who knew Naruto and Sasuke, together, were a force to recon. They had some sort of fierce rivalry mixed with devoted loyalty Kushina didn’t think she fully comprehended, but it was good. They were pretty much kicking ass in that elementary school.

(Of course they were. They got their badassery from Kushina herself, after all — Naruto by blood, and Sasuke by familiarity.)

By the end of the afternoon, Kushina, Iruka, Tsume and Mikoto counted what each kid had collected, individually or in teams. Naruto and Sasuke won the race for the treasure, as Kushina expected — not because Naruto is her child by blood and Sasuke her child by heart, but because Naruto and Sasuke, as a team? Unbeatable.

Iruka-sensei congratulated the two, who were sweaty and dirty and red and panting, as if they had just finished the most critical and difficult task of their lives. They received their prize as if they were two heroes receiving a medal for saving the world. Behind her, Kushina could hear Minato laughing quietly to himself, but he didn’t say anything.

All in all, the event they organized was a success. Everyone congratulated Kushina and the other organizers, and the Principal even asked if they could be doing events like that one every year (they didn’t want to decline, but didn’t exactly say ‘yes’, either). After they made everyone help them put the school back together, the two families celebrated the boys’ victory with pizza. Kushina could tell, by the shine in Naruto’s and Sasuke’s eyes, that the hard-earned pizza they shared was the tastier of their lives. Fugaku didn’t miss the opportunity to point out that hard work leads to sweet victory — and that was fine, Kushina thought, that was perfect, because that was one of the most important lessons a person should learn, and she was glad the two had the opportunity to start learning that in such a harmonious way.

Afterwards, when they got home, Kushina told Naruto to get a shower and go straight to bed. He was still agitated, bouncing after all that adrenaline from the day, but he was also tired (his face showed it; he couldn’t fool her), so he did as he was told.

When she entered the master bedroom, she found Minato sitting on their bed, looking puzzled at a silver package in his hands.

Kushina smiled. “Well,” she said, “won’t you open it?”

The way she was smiling must have given her on. Minato’s blue eyes darkened with something she recognized well after so many years, and he smirked seductively at her.

“You prepared this for me?” he asked, opening the package. Kushina took a few steps closer.

“I couldn’t live you out of the hunt, now could I?” she said, and laughed when Minato, barely finished opening the gift, got up and tackled her.

Kushina laughed as Minato flooded her with whispered praises between bites and kisses. She couldn’t help think she had scored the highest in that whole ordeal. She really loved treasures, and hunting, and gifts, and organizing kids parties. And, well, if it all made Naruto have fun and Minato love her a little bit more, well, it was a sweet bonus she very much deserved.


	4. Of Physics and Shinobi and Rudeness and Overprotection

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Day 4: A Shinobi Holiday.

When he was thirteen, Naruto had the worst teacher he ever had the displeasure to meet in his entire life. He was an old geezer with white hair and nose all up in the air, who thought he knew everything better than everyone and that all he said, and only what _he_ said, was right and should be the truth. To add to the man’s unappeal, he taught physics.

Naruto hated him.

Not only because he was a stupid old nincompoop — although that was one of the reasons, too — but because the man seemed to enjoy treating other people like they were garbage. Not just any other people, but Sasuke. Well, to be fair, Senju-sensei treated everyone bad, not just Sasuke, and he didn’t even treat Sasuke as bad as some other people in the school; there was a talk running around that some students had literally peed his pants when Senju-sensei called them to his office to ‘have a conversation’ and—but! The point was: he treated Sasuke bad sometimes, and that, for Naruto, was unexcusable.

Not that Naruto could do much about it — although he could, if only he actually _could_ — because, although he, personally, thought Senju-sensei’s behaviour was unacceptable, the school staff actually thought of him as a hero. His dad said it was because he was one of the few teachers capable of inflicting respect on the teenage students, and because he not only knew how to teach, he knew how to educate as well, and also because the school’s course of natural sciences got the highest scores in the national assessments of education since Senju-sensei assumed the chair of teacher-coordinator. “You shouldn’t complain,” his dad also complemented, because of course he wouldn’t lose the opportunity to lecture him, “you’ve been given the opportunity to learn from one of the greatest. Seize the opportunity, Naruto.” 

(His dad had actually been a student of Senju-sensei as well, and he was always blabbering about how great of a teacher he was, how his classes had ignited an interest in him he didn’t know existed thus far, how he was partially responsible for leading Minato to pursue a career in chemical engineering, and blah, blah, blah. It was clear he admired Senju-sensei a whole lot, and that, Naruto decided, served to show his dad was displaying the first signs of senility.)

In all honesty, all Naruto wanted to seize was his fist right on Senju-sensei’s face.

Sasuke always said he was overreacting. To him, Senju-sensei wasn’t that bad, he was just exigent. Which was good, according to Sasuke’s dad and his whole family, because learning from undemanding teachers equalled learning from a dead turtle. “You can’t learn anything from a dead turtle,” Sasuke explained, in that patronizing tone Naruto hated because he always used it when he thought Naruto was being stupid.

Naruto really wanted to have a sharp comeback that proved that one could, indeed, learn at least _something_ from a dead turtle, but he got nothing. Either way, in his opinion, of course Sasuke would think that way. He was used to exigency, coming from a home with his parents and brother and all. The Uchiha family always strived for excellency, and with Sasuke it was no different. He naturally excelled in anything he tried to do without a drop of sweat anyway, and although Sasuke had never admitted to him, Naruto knew he also had this sort of thing inside him that made him want to surpass Itachi in everything.

(Which was dumb. What good could one gain by annihilating — in a figuratively way — their own kin?)

“Ah, okay, I know he’s good,” Naruto said; he would grant Senju-sensei that. “But my point is that it doesn’t matter how good you are in anything if you are a shitty person!”

At that, Itachi laughed in the driver’s seat. (They were in Itachi’s car; he was back from university already and was picking them up in school every day.) “Agree,” he said, and Naruto smirked triumphantly to the rearview mirror, through which Sasuke was looking at him as they talked.

“I get it,” Sasuke told him (mainly to agree with Itachi, Naruto was sure), “but I don’t see Senju-sensei so bad as you’re making him look. He just doesn’t have patience for stupidity. And for the record,” he added, “neither do I.”

“So you would be the same as this man,” Itachi asked, “if you were to teach some kids?”

Naruto wanted to know, too. Sasuke gave it some thought. “No, not really. Sometimes, perhaps. When they deserved it.”

For some reason he couldn’t fathom, Naruto felt offended. He couldn’t really explain what he was feeling, though, so he didn’t say anything. The conversation naturally changed from their teacher’s antics to what he had assigned as the last project of the year: an invention or experience following what they had seen in class.

Senju-sensei was very creative, Naruto would grant him that as well. He was always making new stuff to get his students interested in physics. He often took them to the lab to make experiences, sometimes even joining the chemistry teacher to show them something cool. He even organized an excursion to a museum of physics in Kumo in the middle of the year. It was really cool.

They were in their last weeks of school and it was the third project Senju-sensei assigned them to do. Naruto always partnered up with Sasuke, and they always made great stuff to present in class. To the first project they made a pendulum that drew geometrical objects by itself (they scored 100%). To the second project, they made a squared soap bubble (it was Naruto’s idea; they also scored 100%).

“What are you going to do this time?” Itachi asked after they told him about the first two experiences.

Naruto and Sasuke looked at each other through the rearview mirror. “Secret,” they said in unison, smiling at each other.

That afternoon, they locked themselves in Sasuke’s bedroom in order to prepare everything they needed for their project — a laser pen, an old CD, balloons, a black curtain… They thought Itachi had tried to sneak up on them once or twice, but their senses were shinobi-like, so he didn’t succeed, nuh-uh.

On the day of the presentation, Naruto and Sasuke were chosen last to present their project. “Brace yourselves,” Naruto warned the class as Sasuke asked permission to turn the lights off.

Their project was titled “See our voices” (not that Senju-sensei demanded they titled their homework; Naruto just liked to name stuff around), and it consisted in exactly that: they made a laser-based device that projected the waves of sound created by their voices in the black curtain they borrowed from Sasuke’s mom. It was Sasuke’s idea. He explained to the class how the device worked, and Naruto explained how they made it. Then, they sang a song and then let their classmates sing too, to show the different waves produced by their different voices.

It was a success, just like Naruto was sure it would be. By the end of the presentation, he gazed quickly at Senju-sensei — he was even smiling! They would definitely score 100% again.

Afterwards, Senju-sensei told everyone to sit down and passed collecting the written part of the projects, where they had to explain what they did and how they did it (it was worth half of the grade). When he got to Sasuke and Naruto, he was smiling. Naruto thought that was a good sign, but when Sasuke gave the paper to their teacher, Senju-sensei looked at him in the eye and said, “I’m gonna fail you, boy.” He also ruffled Sasuke’s hair quickly, but Naruto didn’t pay attention to it; he was on the verge of freaking out.

“Hey! That isn’t fair!” he said out loud, but Senju-sensei ignored him, turning to collect the other students’ papers. He turned to Sasuke. “It isn’t fair!”

Sasuke said he didn’t care.

“What do you mean you don’t care?! Did you hear what I heard? He’s—”

“Naruto,” Sasuke interrupted him, serious. “Don’t freak out.”

Naruto told him it was too late. That was why he didn’t like Senju-sensei at all. He was pulling that stuff out all the time. He didn’t like Sasuke, and he didn’t like Naruto as well, he didn’t like no one, but he _didn’t like Sasuke_ , he was mean to him, and that was just terrible. Especially because — well, because Sasuke was Sasuke, but also because physics was a subject Sasuke enjoyed a lot, and he was quite good at it. He was good at everything, all the other teachers loved him, what was _wrong_ with that old stinky nincompoop?!

He really wanted to kick Senju-sensei’s ass. (He didn’t even care about not swearing when it was about him anymore.)

Despite Sasuke telling him to not care about what their teacher had said, and assuring him he didn’t mind, Naruto went home with that thought. Everything crossed his head: maybe he had screwed up his half of the written part, or maybe he didn’t sing well and Senju-sensei decided he would fail them both. He didn’t really care about himself failing a class or two, but to Sasuke, it was a big deal. He knew how Sasuke was, how he demanded too much of himself, so seeing a teacher being so mean to him for no reason, even when Sasuke was a good student and scored perfectly at everything, it… it hurt Naruto.

After a long time of thinking (shared with intense moments of freaking out), Naruto knew he couldn’t let that happen. He couldn’t let Sasuke fail just because their teacher was an old pater who sucked balls. So he decided he should take matter to his own hands: he should change whatever Sasuke’s grade were to a passable score.

The way he would do it? Simple enough: break into Senju-sensei’s home and fraud Sasuke’s grade in his teacher papers-thingy. Maybe that was a felony somewhere in the world, maybe even in Konoha, but Naruto couldn’t care less. Sasuke(‘s grade) was at stake here.

He analyzed the situation and decided the best day to do it was the next week, after the finals were done and everybody was already on break for Christmas.

When the occasion came, Naruto decided to throw himself back to his childhood years (which he was barely coming out from, his mom was always pointing out, but that he missed a lot) and dress himself as one of the shinobis from The Super Shinobis.

He used to have a full costume of his favourite character, Shinobi Suigetsu, from Team Taka, with the _Kubikiribōchō_ and all. He used it when he was eleven, but when he tried it again, at thirteen, it didn’t fit anymore. So he had make do with the clothes he was wearing that day: purple long-sleeved t-shirt and white pants — which, he realized, made him look like a genderbent, blond version of Shinobi Karin. “Cool,” Naruto told himself, looking at his reflex in the mirror of his wardrobe. Shinobi Karin was badass. He put a gray coat on and left.

Luckily, he knew where Senju-sensei lived, since his dad made a point to visit him when Naruto started being his student. He lived a bit far from Naruto’s neighborhood, but getting there was kinda easy; the snow came late that year, so the streets weren’t impossible to walk on yet.

Once he got there, Naruto examined the house carefully. Senju-sensei seemed to be home alone; there was only one room lightened up, on the second floor. He breathed and focused on getting into character. He was a shinobi. He could do this. He just had to be quiet.

With that thought, he began escalating the house through the windows and pipelines.

For a moment, Naruto thought he had had the worst idea of his entire life, and that this was a mistake. “Dammit,” he cursed, quietly, when he almost fell from a one-and-a-half-storey high. But then, “Nah,” he said to himself when he managed to regain balance. It was cool. He was a shinobi. He was Karin, who was proficient at escalating skyscrapers and invading places without anyone noticing (like that time in season three, that was so awesome!). If he succeeded on his plan, then Sasuke wouldn’t fail, Naruto would — pretend to — be an awesome ninja, Senju-sensei would keep on being the stupid grumpy old man he was, and everyone would be happy.

Everyone except Senju-sensei, probably. That guy was never happy. That old pater.

The window with the lights up had a balcony. Once Naruto got there, he hid behind a giant plant and looked inside. Senju-sensei was sitting in a desk in the middle of what looked like an office, head down as he read something. There was a bunch of papers in that desk; he was probably grading stuff. Naruto shrunk behind the giant tree and waited. He waited for a long time; he was almost falling asleep when Senju-sensei finally got up and left the room.

Score, Naruto thought, as he quickly entered the room and went straight to the desk. Those were definitely school papers; there were a bunch of names Naruto recognized from the students in higher grades, as well as some names he didn’t know. He tried searching for anything with Sasuke’s name on it, but it was a sea of papers, and none of that stuff looked like his class’. He looked and looked, but didn’t really have the courage to mess with anything. Maybe if—

“Uzumaki.”

Naruto jumped. Damn, he thought. Heart bumping violently in his chest, he slowly turned around to see Senju-sensei leaning on the door, arms crossed and a glass of something in his hands. He wasn’t smiling — as always — and he looked very serious, furious even, and he was probably furious, he was going to—

“Uzumaki,” his teacher called again, and Naruto realized he was staring. He quirked an eyebrow in that judgemental way Naruto hated. “Well?”

He knew he wanted an explanation, but Naruto didn’t know how to start giving one, so he just lifted a hand and said, “Hi.”

Senju-sensei frowned at him, but not like he was mad; it was more as if he thought Naruto was weird. “Correct me if I’m wrong: you have just climbed the windows of my house and invaded my office.”

Naruto couldn’t find anything else to say. “Yes.” He lowered his head but kept eyeing his teacher, his arms tight by his sides.

A few moments of silence passed as Senju-sensei scrutinized him, until his eyes widened a tad bit. “You ran away from home,” Senju-sensei said, and it half sounded like a question, half like a statement.

“What?! No! I didn’t!” (And even if he had, he wouldn’t have gone there!) “Of course not!”

His teacher actually let out a breath, like he was relieved. “Well, then. What are you doing in my house, Mr. Uzumaki?”

“Uh…” Naruto started, but then he got silent.

Seriously, what could he say?

Senju-sensei sighed. “Kid…” He rubbed his eyes with one hand, then started walking towards him.

Naruto went stiff immediately. “I didn’t mess with anything!”

“I know,” his teacher replied. He walked across Naruto, to the other side of the room, where he grabbed a chair. He took it to where Naruto was. “Sit,” he commanded, then sat on the chair he had been sitting previously. Naruto did as he was told, and watched as Senju-sensei leaned on the papers in the desk and started reading one of them.

He watched his teacher reading in silence.

And watched.

And watched some more.

When it was clear it was all that was going to happen for a long while if he didn’t do anything to change the situation, Naruto opened his mouth. “So…”

Senju-sensei’s gaze lifted from the papers and pierced through Naruto. “Well?”

“Uh…” was all Naruto managed to say. He went quiet again, everything repeated. “Alright, alright! I’ll tell you.”

Senju-sensei not only lifted his gaze, he leaned back on his chair just to look at him. “I’m waiting,” he stated when Naruto didn’t say anything. “I have all night, Mr. Uzumaki.”

He couldn’t really muster up the courage to tell him. “I lied.”

His teacher rolled his eyes and went back to his papers.

“Don’t do that!” Naruto complained.

Senju-sensei eyed him again, but didn’t say anything. He didn’t lean back on his chair, just put an elbow on the desk and upheld his chin with his hand. Naruto knew he was serious when he said he was waiting, and that he had all night.

He knew there was no escape from this. He sighed. “I needed to get to your grading papers-thingy.”

His teacher nodded. “I imagined that much. Continue.”

“Because, uhm. Because I wanted to change some grades you—”

“You wanted to fraud my documents,” he interrupted, “and commit not just one felony, but two. Go on.”

Naruto really didn’t want to tell him the entire story. “That’s it, basically.”

Senju-sensei lifted an eyebrow. “Basically.”

“Yeah.” Naruto scratched the back of his head and tried to smile it off.

“Mr. Uzumaki, you are telling me you left home in the middle of a winter night, walked across town in the snow, escalated my walls, invaded my home without permission…” He sighed and closed his eyes. “Because you felt the need to change your grades.”

“Not my own,” Naruto mumbled, more to himself than to his teacher.

“What is it?”

“Not my own,” he repeated, a bit louder, and mumbled again, “Sasuke’s.”

“Not your own,” Senju-sensei said. “Uchiha’s.” He sighed, and passed a hand through his face, as if he were very tired. “You decided to become a criminal — and this is a crime, Mr. Uzumaki, don’t think it isn’t just because you’re a minor — because of your boyfriend.”

Naruto nodded. (What else could he have done?) He felt a weird little thing at the mention of the word ‘boyfriend’. Sure, they had been teased before about their closeness and all. Sasuke wasn’t, well, he wasn’t Naruto’s _boyfriend_ , no, just his bestest friend in the entire world. But that was the first time someone said that word without mocking, and that, somehow, made Naruto feel… he couldn’t really explain. It kind of made him simultaneously uncomfortable and curious. “Sasuke isn’t my boyfriend,” he mumbled, though Senju-sensei ignored it. He was still lecturing him.

“Mr. Uzumaki, that’s the single _most stupid_ thing I’ve ever seen a student try to do.”

Of all the things he thought he would be feeling at that moment, embarrassment wasn’t one of them. It actually took Naruto by surprise; he could feel his cheeks and ears warming up, and he didn’t want to look at Senju-sensei, nor that Senju-sensei looked at him. Why did Dad had to like him so much, anyway?

“What am I supposed to do to you now?” Senju-sensei was asking. He wasn’t yelling, though Naruto thought he was livid. “What do you think I should do, Mr. Uzumaki? Tell me. Share one more of your brilliant ideas.”

Naruto didn’t know what to say, so he lowered his head and didn’t say anything. They went silent for a long time, before Senju-sensei sighed and said, “I’m gonna let this one pass.”

Surprised, Naruto lifted his head. “Really?”

His teacher shrugged, reaching for the glass the red stuff — wine? “Sure. Why not. Classes are over, anyway,” he growled. “I already sent the grades to the system.”

Naruto kind of panicked. “What about Sasuke?”

“What about Mr. Uchiha?”

“You’re not gonna fail him, are you?”

“And just exactly why would I do that?” he asked, much too rudely for Naruto’s taste.

“Why— wha— you said you would!”

His teacher stared at him for a while, as if he was trying to understand what Naruto was saying by reading his memories. Naruto honestly felt like he was a zoo monkey or something like that, and that Senju-sensei was definitely downloading everything he was thinking through a wireless physics mental connection. Or something. He might have succeeded at it, because suddenly he took a breath. “Kid,” he said, in an exasperated tone, “you don’t even know what sarcasm is.”

Though he felt offended at that statement, Naruto ignored it. Many people had told him that over the years, even Sasuke, but it didn’t really bother him — at least not until now. However, his main concern at that moment was: “Are you gonna fail Sasuke?”

His teacher scrutinized him for a long moment before saying, slowly, “How am I going to fail the student with the highest scores in the class? Explain it to me, Mr. Uzumaki.”

That time, Naruto noticed the sarcasm in that last sentence, so he didn’t answer it. He shrugged, and just like that, the possible consequences of his actions started dawning on him.. “What about me?” he asked, his voice coming out more panicky than he actually wanted it to be.

Senju-sensei didn’t answer. He just took a sip of his beverage and slowly said, “Minato invited me for Christmas this year.” If Naruto was already panicked, it got worse with each word he said. “I’m actually willing to accept; it’s always nice to visit good former students and see what they’ve done with their lives. I wonder if I should tell him about what his son pulled just a few days previously…”

“Fuuu _uuuuuck_ —” Naruto only realized what he was yelling when it was too late; he knew he would regret it later, but since he’d already started, he decided to continue it anyway: “you.”

He thought Senju-sensei would get even more livid and yell at him, maybe even beat him up, but instead, he just smirked. “Y’know, kid, like I said, I’m gonna let this one pass. And because you’re not the worst student I have ever taught, Mr. Uzumaki, I’m not gonna fail you.”

That took Naruto by surprise. “What, really?!”

“This is me being very, very, very nice,” Senju-sensei told him, and at that moment, Naruto thought he had a teacher who looked a lot like those mafia leaders on TV. It was both awesome and scary. “You do have quite a lot of potential, Mr. Uzumaki. You just have to learn how to connect your neurons to your brain so it can actually process your thoughts.”

Okay, that really offended him. But Naruto wasn’t going to disturb a mafia leader who just decided he wouldn’t fail him, nuh-uh. So he just nodded.

“Y’know what.” Senju-sensei was smirking when he took another sip of his wine. “I actually like you, boy.”

Naruto eyed the old man a bit wary. “...Why?” he asked.

His teacher smiled fully at him, a genuine smile he had only ever seen once: when he visited with his dad. “You remind me of myself at your age,” Senju-sensei told him.

That was the rudest thing Naruto had ever heard.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you want to see the videos that inspired Sasuke and Naruto's projects, go [here](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E_cHdRb5XZQ), [here](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JE4guPKLDaI) and [here](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6lArL9pCkhs). (Audios in Portuguese and no subtitles, sorry. But the images are cool!)


	5. Only Natural

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Day 5: Miracles.

The first time Sasuke and Naruto realized they were in love, they were fifteen. At least that was it had seemed, at that time, in Itachi’s eyes. Somehow, it caught him by surprise; although Itachi imagined Sasuke and Naruto — like anything else they did — would discover the many aspects of themselves with each other as years went by, he didn’t think it would happen at such an early age. Perhaps he had underestimated their maturity (or lack thereof). Or perhaps he was just forgetting how it felt to be a teenager, as Shisui made a point to tell him by text, when Itachi let him know about his musings.

Sometimes, whenever he was caught between Sasuke and Naruto just living their lives, he could swear he was trapped in a sitcom filled with heavy subtext of homosexual romance. Or that he was part of one of those romances teenage girls and young women told themselves in the internet. Either way, Itachi was sure he wouldn’t be more than a side character in whatever story Sasuke and Naruto had together, mainly because their level of intimacy didn’t allow any ‘outsiders’ — even if Itachi knew he was one of the very few privileged who got to glimpse on ‘Sasuke and Naruto from the inside’ (as Shisui liked to call it).

The winter of Sasuke and Naruto’s fifteen years of life, and Itachi’s twenty, was filled with a curious mix of calm intimacy and emotional uneasiness. It was simultaneously adorable and pathetic, in Itachi’s opinion. He never really saw the appeal of romantic relationships (though he enjoyed watching Sasuke and Naruto’s and speculating about it with Shisui). It played out more or less like this: in the second day of snow falling, Itachi found a crow cheeper in the backyard of his house. It seemed to be lost; there were no visible nests in the trees around and no other crows nearby. Seeing no other option, he took the baby bird inside, where he could provide some way to warm it up.

Sasuke and Naruto were sitting in the living room, concentrated on playing a videogame. Naruto, however, just like every time something related to animals happened, lost his focus when Itachi passed through the living room with the baby crow in his hands. “Who is this?” he asked, but didn’t wait for an answer, having immediately decided it was their duty to take care of the little thing.

Itachi took a clean cloth from a drawer in the kitchen to clean it up while the two boys found another one they could use to warm the baby crow up.

“Aw, he’s so tiny and small,” Naruto cooed, taking the fragile thing, now dry and clean, from Itachi’s hands. “We need to find him a name.”

“Why?” Sasuke asked, carefully wrapping the baby bird in an old t-shirt he hadn’t used in years. Itachi noticed how his fingers lingered on Naruto’s for a few moments after he was done. “And how do you know it’s a he?”

Naruto shrugged. “I just know. How about… Hobbes?”

Itachi lifted an eyebrow. “The tiger, not the philosopher,” Sasuke provided for him before he could say anything. Then, to Naruto, he said in a softer tone, “He’s not a tiger, Naruto.”

“I know,” Naruto replied. “Hobbes is a survivor.” He caressed the top of the bird’s head. “And so is Hobbes.”

Itachi had no idea where Naruto got that from; he was as much a fan of those comics as the boys were, and all he remembered about that tiger was that he was a lazy, spoiled, pessimist thing, not at all a survivor of the wildlife. He was also almost sure Naruto had never touched any of T. Hobbes’ works in his entire life. In fact, Itachi honestly didn’t get where Naruto got most of his ideas, be they brilliant or witless as they sometimes were.

“Aoda,” Sasuke said. “What about Aoda?”

Naruto shook his head. “That’s the name of your snake!”

“Snake?” Itachi asked, eyeing Sasuke; he hadn’t seen any snake in Sasuke’s bedroom since he got home for winter break.

Sasuke avoided his eyes and didn’t say anything. “The snake we saw at the mall and he wants to buy,” Naruto answered for him. “You should see it, it’s pretty cool.”

“Oh,” Itachi said, still looking at Sasuke, who preferred to pay attention to the crow. Despite the good relationship he had with his little brother, the fact was that Itachi was, indeed, away for most of the year while he attended university. It was only natural that it became increasingly difficult to keep in up with Sasuke’s life. Sometimes, though, whenever Itachi was forcefully reminded of that little inconvenient fact, it always took a toll on him. One he decided best to ignore for as much as possible. “How about Jun?”

That made Sasuke look at him. “Shisui’s—”

“Ex,” Itachi said before he finished, and smirked. Sasuke mimicked him.

The quest for a good baby bird name led to a somewhat childish conversation, one of the kind Itachi only had with Sasuke and Naruto when they were together and completely opposite to what he had in his day-to-day life, which was refreshing.

“Either way,” Itachi interrupted the discussion when he sensed it was leading to a fist fight, “we have to find what and how to feed him.”

“Oatmeal,” Naruto quickly informed him, “and dog or cat food, hard-boiled egg yolk, baby cereal; we mix it all together. Maybe we can add some vitamins and crushed eggshells, too. And raw beef heart or kidney. I think my mom will let me take some from the fridge.”

As Naruto said all that, Sasuke immediately moved around the kitchen to try and find everything he listed. Although Itachi was used to Sasuke doing exactly what Naruto said out of nowhere (and vice-versa), that moment felt relatively strange to him. Somewhat astonished, he found himself following Sasuke — and not the other way around — and doing exactly as Naruto said; when it was about animals, Itachi realized, Naruto was the authority here. More than that, they were growing up, both of them.

 _I feel old_ , he texted Shisui as he watched Sasuke prepare the bird food under Naruto’s instructions, the little thing snuggled between Naruto’s hands.

 _Don’t say that. It’ll make me feel even older_ , Shisui answered him, making Itachi chuckle.

Sasuke hadn’t bought his snake yet, but already had placed a big aquarium for it in his room, where it would live. (Itachi wondered if Mother and Father even knew of Sasuke’s plans; he made a mental note to have a serious conversation with his baby brother later.) They cleaned the giant glass so it would serve as a makeshift nest for little Jun.

“Aoda,” Sasuke corrected, at the same time Naruto said, “Hobbes.”

Afterwards, they sat in the floor of Sasuke’s room, and the brothers let Naruto teach them how to feed little Jun/Aoda/Hobbes. “Careful, with the end of your little finger,” he taught, demonstrating it by feeding Jun a piece of boiled egg yolk. It took the baby bird a considerable amount of time to finally understand it was food, but when he did, he wouldn’t stop eating from Naruto’s pinkie.

“He looked like he was hurt,” Itachi stated. He noticed it in the few moments he had the bird in his hands.

Naruto nodded. “He’s gonna make it. Crows are smart and strong.”

The way he said it was no different from the way he said everything else: a clangorous, motivated tone, filled with positiveness. Itachi, however, must have missed something in that sentence; while he didn’t think anything of it, he noticed Sasuke focus worriedly at Naruto, who didn’t look away from the baby for even a split of second.

He was certain that wasn’t a good moment to say anything, so he stayed silent.

That night, Itachi made a quick research on how to take care of baby crows. Mostly of what he found was very close to what Naruto had taught them and, while Itachi honestly hoped Naruto opted for a career in veterinary in the future, he also felt for him. He was no vet and had had very few interactions with animals in the past, but, according to what he’d seen in Jun and what he read, the baby crow had all odds against him.

He understood, then, the motives of Sasuke’s worry earlier: Naruto never dealt very well with loss.

They kept taking care of baby Jun/Aoda/Hobbes, though. Itachi himself checked on him several times a day, making sure he was alive, dry and fed. He took a photo of the tiny cheeper when he looked a little better, and sent it to Shisui. _Found a baby crow in the backyard _, the text said, with the photo attached. _I named it Jun_.__

___One: That’s just beautiful; Two: You fucking asshole!_ was Shisui’s answer; Itachi tried not to crack up in front of Sasuke and Naruto.  
__

Naruto always visited a lot, just like Sasuke was over at his home all the time. With baby Hobbes with them, however, he practically started living there. Which didn’t bother anyone in the family at all, especially not Sasuke. 

__Despite their willingness to help, the brothers mostly watched Naruto taking care of the bird by himself, even though he was always explaining what he was doing. “No need to show off,” Sasuke said one day, after he let Naruto rant about how he was taking care of Hobbes for a bit more than an hour. They were in Sasuke’s bed, Sasuke sitting and Naruto lying down, Hobbes chirping in his chest. Naruto flushed, caught in his own antics, but beamed at Sasuke all the same._ _

__“Aoda,” Sasuke ended up saying — out of embarrassment, Itachi could see._ _

__Most of all, Itachi watched Sasuke watching Naruto. There were those rare moments when Sasuke didn’t seem like he was analyzing the situation or even thinking about anything in particular. Usually, it happened when he tuned out his big brother and anything else from the world and focused entirely on Naruto. One afternoon, Itachi entered Sasuke’s bedroom to see Naruto sitting in the floor, feeding Aoda, while Sasuke just watched him with that distinct mien plastered all over his face._ _

__That was when Itachi knew his baby brother was in love._ _

__The two boys got to be alone for long periods of time while little Aoda was under their care. Although he pretended he didn’t, Itachi observed as, slowly, their interactions subtly changed. He could see the lingering gazes whenever one of them had the baby crow in their hands; he could hear the softly spoken words when they forgot Itachi was near, the whisperings when they thought Itachi wasn’t listening. He ignored the ruffled laughter that came from Sasuke’s room in the night._ _

__He didn’t know if that was the right thing to do, but, _Let them be_ , Shisui advised him, _it was all we wanted at that age, remember, old man?__ _

__So Itachi let them be, content in watch from the corner._ _

__He thought it was cute, honestly; Sasuke and Naruto were nothing less than cute, had always been, since they were toddlers, especially when they were together. He also supposed it was comfortable falling in love with a childhood friend, someone who knew all of their quirks, habits and preferences. However, there was this lingering apprehensiveness that took over Itachi’s thoughts every once in a while. Getting attached to someone was always a thrilling experience. Doing so at such an early age, when one’s whole self was still underdeveloped and there was so much more to see and feel and change… it could be dangerous, in Itachi’s opinion. As for Sasuke and Naruto, he didn’t doubt everything felt three, four, infinite times more intense, which could mean more dangerous, as well. They tuned the world off enough as it was, whenever they were together. If they indeed engaged in a romantic relationship, Itachi had to confess to himself, he worried Sasuke and Naruto’s world would become too small. He wondered if they could be able to be Sasuke and Naruto, as separate identities, not only as two halves of a whole — that, in Itachi’s view, was the most important part of romance, even if he didn’t particularly desired one for himself._ _

__Furthermore, he wondered about after they grew up and started building their lives together, how it would be. Change was just a natural aspect of life, and Itachi worried that, if the many changes they would probably face brought the worse of each of them, they wouldn’t know what to do with themselves._ _

__He knew there was the possibility he was worrying for nothing, of course; those subtle interactions could mean anything from curiosity to soulmates love. Yet, that was just how Itachi was: he worried too much for everyone he ever loved; he didn’t know how to tune that off of himself._ _

__He supposed there was nothing he could do, for now, other than appreciate the first sparks of pure, cute adolescent love in the privileged position he found himself. Whatever the future held for Sasuke and Naruto, Itachi’s resolve was to make sure he was there for both of his little brothers whenever they needed him. Falling in love in that big, merciless world in that day and age was a miracle on itself; it wasn’t Itachi’s place to ruin it for his own silent worries._ _

__Little Jun stayed with them, in Sasuke’s snake nest, for two weeks and a half. Despite Sasuke’s obvious worry, and with Naruto overprotectiveness and refusal to give up, he slowly but steadily regained health, beating all odds that were against him — another little miracle, if they indeed happened, Itachi thought to himself. By the end of two weeks, he seemed ready to fly._ _

__“It’s winter, though,” Sasuke questioned, “is he gonna be able to survive?”_ _

__“Uh-huh,” Naruto answered, nodding. “Crows are intelligent. And tougher than you think. Didn’t you see how Hobbes made it?”_ _

__They waited until the snow took a break from falling to take him outside._ _

__When Jun/Aoda/Hobbes finally took his first successful flight, Naruto had tears in his eyes. He was smiling, though, and when Sasuke reached to grab Naruto’s hand, Itachi pretended he didn’t notice it._ _


	6. Mine and Yours

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Day 6: Cheesy Traditions.

Sasuke woke up with the insistent buzz of his cell phone in the bedside table. Groggily, he reached for it, and had to blink several times until his blurred vision focused enough so he could read Naruto’s text: _open ur window!_

What, Sasuke thought, turning to look at the window by the foot of his bed. He was about to turn his cell off and lie back under the covers when he heard tapping on the window. His cell buzzed again: _cmon im freezing!!!_

Sasuke sighed, understanding this wouldn’t stop until he did exactly what Naruto wanted. He got up and went to open the damn window, the cold wind raiding into the room, only to find Naruto literally hanging from the windowsill, his own cell phone in his mouth.

“Are you out of your mind?” Sasuke inquired, shivering and taking the phone from Naruto’s mouth.

Naruto shushed him. “Don’t wake everyone up,” he warned in a whispered yell. “Help me up.” 

Sasuke honestly didn’t want to, but his bedroom was on the second floor; if Naruto fell, all he would have was a bunch of snow that may or may not soften the impact. “You’re impossible,” Sasuke said.

“Shh!” Naruto reprimanded. Sasuke cursed him, his voice considerably lower.

It was still before dawn — five in the morning, according to Naruto’s phone. Though snow hadn’t fallen that night, they were in the middle of December; Naruto was probably the only person in the world who didn’t realize it was far too cold to walk outside with nothing but pajamas, slippers and a thin coat on.

“I’m going to ask again,” Sasuke started as he closed the window, shutting off the extreme cold from outside, and turning to Naruto. “Are you completely out of your mind?”

“Why?” Naruto asked, simply enough, as if there was nothing wrong with that setting.

“You were just climbing the walls of my house!”

“Quiet,” Naruto reprimanded, then shrugged. “Nothing I haven’t done for you before.”

Sasuke didn’t understand what he meant by that, but sleepiness directly affected the (not uncommon) state of grumpiness he found himself, which, in turn, directly affected his ability to care. “Whatever,” he said, throwing the phone his hand was clutching to its owner and walking toward his bed.

“Sasuke,” Naruto called. When Sasuke looked at him, he was pouting. “I need warm clothes. I’m freezing.”

Sasuke waved a hand at him. “Help yourself.” It wouldn’t be the first time Naruto messed with his wardrobe, anyway.

Back into bed, it didn’t take more than thirty seconds for him to relax into sleep again. He was in that comfortable half-asleep, half-awaken state, listening to the noises of Naruto moving around in the bedroom and almost completely unconscious, when suddenly the covers were lifted and Sasuke was assaulted by ice cold limbs.

“Ahn,” he complained, “Naruto, damn. You’re freezing!”

“Shh,” Naruto reprimanded for a fourth time that night as he got under the covers with him, and Sasuke wanted to punch him. “Don’t yell, you’ll wake everybody else.”

“Fuck you.”

“I told you, I’m freezing. Do you know how long I stayed out there waiting for sleeping beauty here to finally wake up?”

“What are you doing here, anyway?” Sasuke felt annoyed. He really disliked being woken up, especially that early in the morning, and especially when it was that cold.

However, part of that annoyance faded when Naruto, still in a sitting position, turned to him and smiled, saying, “I wanted to see you.” It made Sasuke actionless; he didn’t know what to say, so when Naruto told him, “Move,” he didn’t argue, just shifted to make space for him.

They were in a twin bed, so there was very little space to move comfortably and they had to snuggle against each other. Sasuke was used to find himself physically close to Naruto every once in a while ever since he could remember; they never really had problems with snuggling up or sharing their beds with one another. That night, however, it made Sasuke feel uncharacteristically uncomfortable — or, not exactly uncomfortable; he was never uncomfortable with Naruto (except sometimes, when he was being an idiot in public), but… shy, perhaps.

Which was completely new to Sasuke; he had never felt shy or anything similar in front of Naruto before — but then again, so was almost everything that had been happening between them for the past few days, ever since they started taking care of that little crow. Aoda had flown away two days ago, but Naruto still felt the need to come visit Sasuke all the time. He was probably needy because he was missing the baby bird, Sasuke concluded.

When Naruto finally managed to fit under the blankets, he arranged it so that both of them were protected from the cold and turned the lights out. He really was freezing, Sasuke noticed, feeling Naruto’s body against his own. That proximity made Sasuke feel things he didn’t want to acknowledge at that moment. “You’re cold,” he complained half-heartedly, mostly because he didn’t know what else to say.

“There, there,” Naruto said, quietly, tapping Sasuke’s shoulder under the blankets. “Gonna warm up really fast, don’t worry. I brought my own pair of socks.”

Sasuke lifted an eyebrow at that statement, though the darkness in the room didn’t allow Naruto to see it. He also couldn’t see Naruto’s face right by his side, but somehow Sasuke knew he was grinning.

“Sleep,” Sasuke commanded, even though he knew there was a very slim chance that he would be able to do so now. They were side by side, shoulders and legs touching and nearly falling off the edges of the bed. Naruto’s body, that close to his, despite being so cold, made Sasuke’s body heat up.

“Sasuke,” Naruto called after a little while, “you asleep yet?”

Sasuke grumbled a no. That was Naruto’s cue to start talking, yet again, about Aoda.

“Hobbes was so smart and strong and beautiful,” he begun, “don’t you think? Remember that time when he discovered where I kept the cat food?” Naruto laughed, but didn’t wait for Sasuke’s reply as he continued the blabbering.

That kept going for a long time. Sasuke occasionally shushed him, when he started talking a bit too loudly, but mostly let him talk as he pleased, both because he wouldn’t find something else to talk about in the state he was and because he actually enjoyed listening to Naruto talk about animals. His voice was lowered to almost a whisper, a timbre Sasuke was starting to realize he liked quite a lot. 

“You think he’s fine?” Naruto asked, eventually.

Sasuke was almost falling asleep again. “Mm-hmm,” he replied, lazily.

“Hey! You ain’t gonna sleep on me, will you?” Naruto poked his waist, making Sasuke jump; he was sensitive there.

“Stop it.”

“Only if you don’t sleep.”

“I’m awake,” he assured, though his voice came out somewhat groggy, and just as he said it, he yawned.

“Hmph.” Naruto yawned as well. “I don’t want to sleep. I don’t want you to sleep.” He tapped Sasuke’s shoulder again, and then let his hand fall downwards. It fell between their bodies, near their hips, just where Sasuke’s hand happened to be, and that was when Sasuke noticed — really noticed — how _close_ they were. He could feel the cold of the back of Naruto’s hand against his own; if he didn’t want him to sleep, Sasuke thought, Naruto was doing a marvelous job. “Sasuke,” Naruto called.

“What.”

“Don’t sleep.”

“I’m not.” (He couldn’t even if he wanted to.)

“You think he’s gonna come back someday?”

It took several embarrassing seconds for Sasuke to understand that Naruto was talking about Aoda. “I don’t know,” he said, trying to sound disinterested. He didn’t know if he failed or not; Naruto didn’t complain about his indifferent tone, as he usually did.

“I think he might. Crows are really, really smart. And they have good memory. I saw a video one of these days about one that recognized a family…”

Naruto kept talking, but Sasuke tuned him off. As was usual for him, Naruto gesticulated a lot while talking, and sometimes, as he moved his hands under the blankets, the one next to Sasuke’s hand briefly brushed at his fingers. It didn’t took more than half a second when it happened, but every single time was enough to make Sasuke freeze in the spot.

That was torture, Sasuke thought, musing about how he was able to lay down with Naruto as if it were the most normal thing in the world, yet, the mere touch of their hands caused his brain to shut down. That in itself was a dichotomy, one that was just starting to make sense to him and he didn’t like the conclusions he was getting at all. As much as Sasuke was starting to comprehend and be able to name what he caught himself feeling for Naruto these past few weeks, he felt moronic because of that. There would be no way—

“Sasuke,” Naruto called.

“...Yes?” Sasuke said, quieter than he intended. His voice failed him, and he mentally cursed it.

“What’s wrong?”

That took Sasuke by surprise; so much he failed to give his friend an answer.

“You’re thinking too much of something,” Naruto affirmed, in that way Sasuke knew there would be no argument because Naruto knew he was right. Naruto turned on his side, most likely in an attempt to look at Sasuke closely. Sasuke was thankful it was pitch black dark in the room. “What is it?”

“Nothing,” Sasuke lied. “Aoda.”

“Liar,” Naruto said, softly, too soft to actually mean to offend him. He slowly moved both of his hands until they reached Sasuke’s, then, enveloped it between them. “Tell me.”

Though Sasuke had been feeling a bit on edge with their proximity and the prospect of touching Naruto, even if just a little bit and with no malice whatsoever, feeling Naruto actually touching him had the completely opposite effect. Sasuke felt somewhat calmer, or at least subdued, even if his stomach gave a few flip-flops and his heart beat considerably faster.

He thought he might have said no out loud, because Naruto didn’t insist even when Sasuke stayed silent. Despite being in the warmth of Sasuke’s bed all that time, Naruto still felt cold. “Your hands feel cold,” Sasuke told him, quietly, squeezing one of the hands that enveloped his.

“Gonna get warm soon,” Naruto said. Sasuke knew that wouldn’t be exactly the case. He didn’t know how long Naruto stayed out there, but he knew he’d always had some difficult warming up. It wasn’t uncommon for him to see Naruto shivering with the slightest of breezes, or wearing three or four coats when winter had just barely begun.

“Want me to go get another blanket?” Sasuke found himself asking. Naruto was shaking a little bit; when Sasuke felt him nodding, he got up. He didn’t need the lights to know what he was doing in his own bedroom, so he quickly fetched another blanket from one of the drawers, covering the bed and Naruto with it right afterwards.

“Thanks,” Naruto said as Sasuke got back into bed.

This time, Sasuke lay down on his side instead of on his back. He was technically facing Naruto, though he couldn’t see his face in the dark. If he focused his eyes enough, he believed he almost saw Naruto’s silhouette, which was enough for Sasuke, for now. “Don’t mention it,” he said, politely (something he didn’t do as often, but nothing was ‘as often’ between them anymore), as he tucked himself in.

They stayed there, in that position, facing each other without really seeing, in silence, for a long time. Naruto gradually stopped shaking, though Sasuke still could feel the coldness emanating from his body.

“Hey,” Naruto said out of nowhere, “y’know what we should do now?”

Sasuke felt a brief cold in the depths of his stomach at that question. His mind hadn’t been in the purest of places as he lied there, in the same bed with Naruto, under the covers, just some tiny few centimeters of distance from him.

So he was simultaneously relieved and disappointed when Naruto said, “Trade socks.”

“Oh.” Sasuke breathed deeply. “Why?”

He could feel Naruto shrugging; the tone of his voice denounced his smile. “That’s our thing,” he said, “mine and yours. That’s what we do.”

Sasuke didn’t have an answer, so he didn’t open his mouth. He vaguely remembered something similar to this happening when he was little: Naruto asking to trade socks, Sasuke not really understanding why but going along with it — as it usually happened, when it came to Naruto — and Naruto beaming satisfied and thankfully at him, even when the last remains of tears danced in his eyes.

He didn’t know exactly where that memory came from, nor the context in which it took place, but maybe it was the prospect of seeing that expression of Naruto directed at him again; maybe it was the ability to say no to Naruto that Sasuke was realizing he was losing; or maybe he was just in lo— he was just another moronic, clueless guy who wished for impossible things.

Perhaps all of those things together made him turn on his back and murmur, “I’m not moving.”

Naruto got what he meant. (Of course he would.) He didn’t wait for another word from Sasuke and slipped into the covers, sliding down until he reached Sasuke’s middle. He touched Sasuke’s legs, starting from a little above the knee and going down until he found his foot. The touch wasn’t suggestive in any way, at all, but it didn’t help Sasuke’s previous thoughts diminish in the slightest. The covers ruffled with Naruto’s movements, and fuck, fuck, fuck, Sasuke was thinking, trying very hard to not let his mouth or his body do anything stupid. Naruto’s hands were still cold when he took Sasuke’s sock off, and Sasuke thought he might have unconsciously spreaded his legs a little bit when Naruto replaced the sock with one of his own.

“There,” Naruto said when he was finally done, the covers ruffling again as he went back up.

“Why did you do that?” Sasuke asked. He meant two entirely different things, but Naruto only caught one.

“It’s our thing, Sasuke,” Naruto explained, lying again on his side next to Sasuke, only his head out of the covers. “It’s tradition!”

Sasuke wished he could see Naruto’s face at that moment. There would be no way he could explain, exactly, what he was feeling: some exotic mixture of arousal, regret and unsureness. Sasuke was never really unsure of himself, even if he had, occasionally, to reflect about him and what he was composed of — didn’t everyone? Maybe some shame, as well, and some euphoria he was having a hard time controlling. It was something he’d never felt before, and it was all overwhelming, to say the least; the last thing he wanted to do was talk about it, but he felt he needed to do _something_.

He turned on his side, facing Naruto, and put a hand on his friend’s face. He felt Naruto go still, and the uncharacteristic uncertainty Sasuke was feeling increased tenfold.

“You might get a fever,” Sasuke whispered after a couple of minutes, when he finally found something plausible to say. He moved his hand from Naruto’s cheek to his forehead, as if to make sure he wasn’t feverish.

Naruto was prone to get sick in the winter, so that excuse worked. “I’m fine,” Naruto told him. “I’m good.” If he noticed Sasuke didn’t remove his hand even after he said that, he didn’t comment on it.

Sasuke nodded, despite knowing Naruto wouldn’t see it. He let a few minutes pass. When he was sure Naruto wasn’t going to remove his hand himself, he passed it slowly through Naruto’s face: his cheekbone, his jaw, back up to his hair. His eyes slowly got used to the darkness; all he could see was Naruto’s silhouette, and so, as his shaking fingers travelled through Naruto’s skin, he tried to imagine his face in all its details: the shape of his nose, the blond eyebrows shaping quite nicely his blue eyes, his perfectly shaped mouth, everything; I’ve been looking at you since you first got that bird in your hands, Sasuke thought of saying, maybe even before that, I wouldn’t know.

I had never noticed before how beautiful you are.

He didn’t say any of those things, though. He wouldn’t be able to even if he tried, because Naruto slowly moved one of his hands and touched Sasuke’s waistline. It didn’t feel luscious or uncomfortable; he was touching just above Sasuke’s pajama shirt, just where it ended, no part of him actually made contact to Sasuke’s skin. His hands were getting warmer than previously, but still considerably cold, and Sasuke mused, what if Naruto slipped his hand under his shirt? What if he touched Sasuke right there, at that very moment — what would Sasuke do?

The thought caused a pleasant discomfort in his lower parts. Sasuke breathed heavily, trying to calm down, as he let his hand rest on Naruto’s cheek. Naruto’s hand was heavy on his body, and Sasuke moved his legs slightly, so as to not let his friend know what was going on with him.

(What if Naruto already knew? That single thought was more arousing than anything; Sasuke felt his heart skip a beat or two. Nothing he was able to think at that moment would help him erase the images appearing in his head.)

“Sasuke…” Naruto called for him, whispering it, and Sasuke answered with a breathy, “Yeah?”

He waited for something to be said, but nothing was. All Naruto did was move his hand, slowly going up on Sasuke’s body, dragging the fabric of the pajama shirt with it. Sasuke jumped a little, feeling his entire self quivering at that simple touch, but didn’t let himself go completely. He followed Naruto’s clue, and let his own hand slide down slowly, very slowly, through Naruto’s jaw, neck, chest… abdomen… belly… He knew what it was making Naruto feel — he clutched the fabric of Sasuke’s clothes tighter, his breath coming out heavier. Amazed, Sasuke could go hours and hours just relishing on this form of power he had just discovered he had over Naruto.

Just as he was about to reach the rim of Naruto’s (Sasuke’s) pants, Naruto grabbed his pulse with the other hand. Sasuke froze, suddenly aware of where they were, of what they were doing, of what _he_ was about to do.

He pulled his hand back.

“It’s okay,” Naruto whispered, adjusting Sasuke’s shirt back again. “It’s good, it’s… it’s okay. You okay?” he asked when Sasuke didn’t say anything.

“Mm-hmm,” Sasuke murmured, though he wasn’t entirely certain it was true. He felt good and bad at the same time. He knew they should probably talk about what was going on between them that night — what was going on between them for the past few days, truthfully — but he wasn’t sure if they should.

Or, to be more honest with himself, Sasuke didn’t know if he wanted to. While he did want _something_ to happen between them after those agonizing last few days, he wasn’t sure if he wanted everything to change. He definitely didn’t want to talk about it all, either. Why couldn’t they just touch, and, and… get there? That was so much better than talking over what they didn’t even know how to phrase properly.

“Sasuke,” Naruto started, stuttering. “I’ve been…”

“Don’t,” Sasuke cut him.

“Don’t you…”

“No.”

“Okay, uhm… I-I’m. I’m gonna…” He didn’t finish, but Sasuke felt him moving so that he was lying on his stomach.

Sasuke stayed there, plastered in his half of the bed, feeling ridiculous and inexperienced and a huge turn off. Should he allow Naruto to say something? He knew he wouldn’t, not for a while, not after Sasuke shut him down. Should Sasuke start a conversation? He didn’t know how.

“Come closer,” Naruto whispered suddenly, “I’m freezing.”

Although he knew that wasn’t true — Naruto got warmer all of a sudden, warmer than Sasuke himself, when Sasuke touched him — Sasuke was both surprised and grateful Naruto said it. He snuggled against him, on his side, careful to not let any compromising parts of his body touch Naruto’s, and placed one of his legs between Naruto’s. 

It was beginning to dawn, probably; the room was getting less dark as minutes passed, making it able to look and actually see each other. Though his head was turned to him, Sasuke wasn’t sure if Naruto was looking at him; he wasn’t looking at Naruto, couldn’t muster the courage to do so.

Legs tangled together, their matching socks touched slightly. Naruto’s feet was warm against Sasuke’s.

“Talk to me,” Naruto said out of a sudden, and before Sasuke could deny it, he explained: “Touch me.”

That sentence surprised him as much as gave him some courage. It had always been like this between them. Sometimes talking didn’t work, but touching — fighting, hugging, slapping, snuggling; that was what worked between them. It was their personal language, sometimes, some kind of dialect only them could understand.

So Sasuke did.

Naruto was lying facing down, with Sasuke on his side, beside him. Carefully, Sasuke put a hand on Naruto’s back and slid it down slowly, slowly. When he got to the rim of the shirt he was wearing (Sasuke’s shirt; and then, Sasuke realized how the fact that Naruto was wearing his clothes was arousing), slipped a hand into the fabric to touch Naruto’s lower back.

His fingers were shaking, and he couldn’t focus too much force or coordination in his movements. Sasuke didn’t know if he was doing it right, but Naruto sighed. “That feels good,” he said, and Sasuke took it as an encouragement.

Soon, it became easier. He started tapping his fingers on Naruto’s skin, first randomly, but then rhythmically, softly, as if he were playing a piano on Naruto’s lower back. He wished there was a song he could silently play into Naruto’s body, one that could explain everything he was feeling so intensely but had so much difficult to substantiate — to fully comprehend, even. But of the very few lessons he’d had as a child, he only remembered one song he was always practicing because Itachi liked a lot, so he played one hand of it repeatedly.

“This feels really good,” Naruto said, eventually, after a long time had passed. “Your touch feels good.”

Sasuke said nothing. Dawn was coming, slowly but steadily; the room was clearer now, and he could see Naruto’s face perfectly, if only he wasn’t avoiding eye contact at all costs.

“This is just like that day,” Naruto said, quietly, “when Hobbes stayed in Itachi’s room. Two weeks ago. Remember?”

He did, of course he did. How could he not remember the very first time he stopped thinking about Naruto as just a friend, and someone he… someone he wanted… “Stop,” Sasuke said, but Naruto, stubborn as always, didn’t.

“I really wanted to kiss you back then,” Naruto confessed, softly, in a tone Sasuke almost didn’t hear.

Sasuke swallowed hard, dry, unable to decide whether to think _finally_ or _too soon_. He felt flustered, ridiculous. He didn’t know what he was playing on Naruto’s lower back anymore.

“Sasuke,” Naruto called, and although it was a soft whisper, it reached Sasuke’s ears as if it were a parade of drums. “I think I’m falling in love with you.” 

“You think,” Sasuke whispered, trying very, very, _very_ hard to keep his cool. Slowly, he shifted his gaze so it would meet Naruto’s. If Sasuke was more sure of himself, he would guess that it was adoration plastered on the blue of Naruto’s eyes. But the most pessimistic part of him didn’t want to acknowledge it; he was simultaneously thrilled and abashed with everything as they were already, and he didn’t exactly know what to do with the intensity of Naruto’s gaze on him. “You’re not sure.”

Naruto was adorable enough to flush and look away. “I don’t know, I…”

Sasuke licked his lips. He tried to analyze the situation, thinking if he could muster the courage, if— “Kiss me, then,” he said suddenly, out of nowhere, and it caught both of them by surprise.

“What,” Naruto tried to ask, but his voice failed.

Sasuke tried to think of a way to express what he was thinking while at the same time not being uncool. He failed: “You wanted to, back then. Kiss me now. Maybe then you might find out for sure.”

Half a second later, Naruto was kissing him. Sasuke didn’t expect his lips to be cold against his own, and he didn’t expect Naruto to be shaking as much as he was, either. He moved his lips slowly, carefully, as if he were afraid to spoil the moment — which was stupid, in Sasuke’s opinion; there couldn’t possibly be a scenario in which kissing Naruto would somehow be ruined.

It was soft, though, and sweet, maybe, and slow. It was no open mouthed kiss, as Sasuke was expecting it to be, but it was good nonetheless. It was thrilling. It was comfortable.

It was over soon enough — too soon, in Sasuke’s opinion. Leaving Naruto’s lower back alone, he grabbed the back of Naruto’s head and pulled him for another kiss, that one just as slow, but much more deep, much more _real_ , much more sure on Sasuke’s part.

Naruto was beaming at him when they pulled apart. Sasuke was finally able to look at him again, suddenly realizing he wasn’t irrationally unsure of himself anymore (although he was very, very, very nervous still). Sasuke got the impression he wanted to say something, but he really didn’t want to hear anything, so he didn’t let him.

He leaned closer, but instead of initiating another kiss, Sasuke brought their foreheads together and closed his eyes.

“You good?” Naruto whispered, searching for Sasuke’s other hand, forgotten under the blankets. When he found it, he intertwined their fingers.

Sasuke gave Naruto’s hand a squeeze. “Yeah,” he whispered back. Despite everything spinning around him, he really was. It felt good, this, what they had, whatever it was. This was good, this was fine, this was… this was theirs.


	7. Christmas Lights and Popcorn

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm honestly ashamed that all my peers who also took this challenge already finished it, while it's January and I'm still halfway through =/ Oh well.
> 
> Special thanks to JustAnAvidReader and narusasunaruheadcanons, who didn't let me give up on this <3
> 
> Day 7: Family.

Mikoto was sitting on the floor in the middle of the living room, bowls of popcorn and balls of yarn of various colours surrounding her. She looked like a child, probably, but it was just all right with her — she was actually feeling like one.

Decorative popcorn was a common occurrence when she was a kid. Mikoto, her little sister and their cousins used to get together every year to put up threads of popcorn on the Christmas tree (and everywhere else in the house, if they got their way, which they almost always did).

She tried to pass the tradition on to her own children, both for their delight and her own. Itachi and Sasuke loved it, of course — both of them inherited her love for popcorn — especially when they were little. However, as they grew up and Mikoto’s career started ascending, more and more she saw her focus drift to her job. There had been a couple of years she barely spent Christmas home, which she regretted, although those sacrifices helped increase their income and guarantee better education for Itachi and Sasuke.

It became increasingly difficult for her to spend time with her sons, and even more to find the time to sit down and prepare a decoration worthy of her childhood memories.

That year, however, she did everything to go back to her roots. Her sister, Michi, had had a baby just a month previously, and most of the family still hadn’t had the chance to meet the little girl. Michi lived in a small apartment a few neighborhoods away from Mikoto’s home, so Mikoto offered her considerably larger house to host that year’s Christmas Eve.

With her, in the room, were three of her sons and her grandfather, who would be spending Christmas and New Years with them. Itachi and Naruto were hanging up mistletoes and Shisui was putting wreaths and garlands in the exaggeratedly big Christmas tree Fugaku bought that year while her grandfather took a nap in the armchair.

Sasuke had gone to the supermarket, at her request, to buy some more chicken and milk. (They had a lot of it stored, but Mikoto knew very well about her uncles’ tastes and their habit to ruthlessly complain whenever something didn’t go the way they wished, especially in family events.)

Thinking about it, Mikoto looked around, and then to the golden watch in her pulse. “How long has Sasuke been out?” she asked, giving a popcorn thread she had just finished to Shisui.

“About two hours, I believe,” Itachi answered.

“Two hours?” Naruto asked, in that boisterous tone of voice he inherited from Kushina. Itachi moved his hand in front of him and then pointed to his sleeping great-grandfather. Naruto, understanding what he meant, lowered his voice as much as he could (which didn’t mean much). “Already? You think something happened?”

Itachi considered it for a moment. “You know how holidays are. He probably got caught in a giant checkout line.”

“Or had to go to three different places to find whatever he went to buy,” Shisui added.

“I’ll give him a call if he takes too long,” Mikoto said, “see if he needs some help.”

Naruto frowned a little, but nodded at the reasoning and went back to the mistletoe.

Despite her promise to call Sasuke, barely five minutes had passed when Mikoto saw Itachi and Naruto pulling their phones from their pockets and starting to text someone — Sasuke, probably.

She smiled to herself. Both Itachi and Naruto were very compassionate boys; Naruto inherited it from his parents, but Itachi was quite a surprise. Personally, she thought that was a great quality to have, but that trait did not run too strong in the family; Mikoto herself wished she were more compassionate at times.

Nevertheless, she was grateful for that. Maybe she was feeling a bit mushy — Christmas usually did that to her — but she was grateful for her youngest son having such good people by his side.

It wasn’t until another hour that Sasuke finally got home. It had started snowing heavily outside while he was away, and Mikoto was sure he would arrive angry, so she prepared for scowls and banging doors.

“I’m home,” Sasuke announced, after closing the front door with more force than necessary. He brought with him several bags with all the things she had written down for him and, to everyone’s surprise, a new haircut.

“What is that?” Shisui asked, a bit loud, as soon as he saw Sasuke, not trying to hide a smile that crawled on his face.

Mikoto lifted her gaze to see that Sasuke had gotten a sidecut; half of his hair and his nape had been neatly shaved. The other half, he styled almost as he usually did it: brunette spikes cascading through his brow, cheek and neck.

Sasuke stood there, all pride and defiance contained in a scowl, in the doorframe, under the mistletoe. The sight was quite adorable, in Mikoto’s opinion, and she had to refrain herself from laughing. His clothes were soaking, but his hair looked dry, and he wouldn’t look at her.

If she were to take a guess, she would say the new hairstyle was the product of the snake Sasuke was determined to buy in months, along with his willingness to take night shifts in the local zoo to help pay for the animal. Neither Mikoto nor Fugaku allowed him to go forward with his plans — both because they didn’t want a snake in their house and because they knew Sasuke working night shifts would affect his studies — which led to several discussions over the year. Apparently, the animal hqe been sold a week ago, according to what Itachi informed them. That put an end to the discussions, or so Fugaku believed; Mikoto doubted it, and assured her husband that probably wasn’t over.

Well, here they were.

Itachi looked surprised. Beside him, Naruto was speechless (which was a great did and told a lot about the situation), blushing, staring at Sasuke as if he were a complete different person. Shisui obviously thought the new hairstyle was funny; he did nothing to contain his laughter.

As for Mikoto, she thought her son looked stylish as much as cute. He looked like one of those rock stars she saw Sasuke listening all the time, even if he still was growing up and still hadn’t got completely rid of that baby face.

Nonetheless, she thought the haircut suited him.

She was certain his father would not share the same opinion.

“Welcome back, Sasuke,” she said, trying to break the tension building up in her son. “Did you get everything I asked you to?”

The question made Sasuke finally look at her. “Yes,” he answered, nodding.

Mikoto thanked him, giving him a big smile. She could see it embarrassed him, so she decided not to probe too much on what was probably a sensitive subject. She thought back of her own teenage days; what had she wanted to hear at Sasuke’s age in times like this?

“You look good,” Mikoto said, never letting her mommy smile dissipate. “I like it.”

For a couple of seconds, Sasuke could not hide his surprise; his eyes widened and his mouth opened but no words left his mouth. Mikoto played it naturally, going back to her popcorn as if she had not been slightly shocked at first sight of her baby’s small rebellion.

(The shock didn’t get her for too long, though. In fact, if she were to be completely honest, part of her was somewhat proud of Sasuke.)

The commotion woke her grandfather up, who, at ninety-two years old, had the sharpness of a matured mind and the soul of a youngster. His reaction to Sasuke’s new appearance was shocking to the boys, but nothing more than what Mikoto expected.

“Come here, boy,” he told Sasuke, who obeyed. He looked at him for a few seconds, then passed his hand through Sasuke’s bangs (which he hated, Mikoto was sure), took Sasuke’s jaw on his hand and maneuvered his head this and that way. Finally, “I’d let these bangs here longer,” he said, holding a few strands of Sasuke’s fringe between his fingers. “You look older,” he added, frowning. “Don’t you dare think of going around drinking just because you cut your hair.”

Sasuke blushed. The other boys cackled. Mikoto did her best to hold a laughter.

“No, Grandfather,” Sasuke said, “I won’t.” He was red in the face and soaking. When Shisui made fun of him, Sasuke replied with a moderate insult and retreated to his bedroom, with the excuse of having to take a bath and change clothes. Half a minute later, Naruto followed him.

“What?” Shisui asked when Itachi eyed him. “C’mon, I was just joking!”

Itachi gave up on his cousin and eyed his mother instead.

Mikoto shrugged. “He looks good to me. Your father, though…”

Another popcorn thread was ready; she gave it to Shisui and they all went back to finishing the preparations for the party, Grandpa substituting Naruto in helping Itachi with the tables.

Sasuke and Naruto didn’t come back downstairs until much later.

Soon night fell down. They turned all the Christmas light on and prepared to receive the guests. Naruto’s parents were the firsts to arrive — they were family, after all — and, much to Sasuke’s delight, as well as embarrassment, Kushina went crazy with his new hairstyle. “I love it!” she was yelling in the middle of the room, “I wanna do it on myself!”

Not too long after, Mikoto’s relatives started showing up. She grew up in a family full of stern, difficult individuals. She liked to think of herself as different from them, a kind soul born in between all that austerity, although the older she grew and the more her career ascended, more and more she saw her parents and her uncles in herself.

The Uchiha family was enormous; it didn’t take very long for the house to get crowded with dark haired cynics of different generations. Some of those people she hadn’t seen in years, and it was nice to meet them again. Mikoto loved them.

The kids were amazed at the bunch of popcorn hanging up all around the house, which pleased her, even if she had some trouble controlling them to not pull it all down to play or even eat — call it karma, but now she understood the distress she inflicted in the grown-ups when she was little.

Fugaku had to work that day, so he only got home much later. Mikoto greeted him at the door. She gave him a kiss, took his coat and whispered in his ear, “This is a _party_.”

Fugaku certainly didn’t understand what she meant at first, but as soon as he stepped into the living room and saw Sasuke, his eyes widened.

“Party,” Mikoto repeated, smiling at her husband.

Despite his obvious discomfort, Fugaku didn’t utter a word, just nodded and went to greet the rest of the family.

Soon afterwards, Michi arrived with the illustrious guest of the night, the little Kimi.

Despite the austerity that was characteristic of Uchiha blood, one thing Mikoto knew for sure: they all cherished the family very much, and relished in the introduction of new family members. Mikoto was no different: she loved babies, loved holding them and spoiling them, much to their parents’ dismay.

Everyone in the family showed excitement over the little girl, as it usually happened whenever there was a new Uchiha baby — it had been just like this when Itachi and Sasuke were born.

Mikoto didn’t blame them; Kimi was indeed a beautiful little girl (and she wasn’t saying that just because she was her first niece).

Leaving Kimi to travel around the party through every relative’s arms and Michi to deal with it, Mikoto went to the kitchen, where she was sure she would find her husband.

“Hi,” she said, greeting him properly with a kiss. “How’re you?” she asked after dislodging from him and opening the cabinet.

“Unacceptable,” Fugaku muttered as Mikoto grabbed two glasses and a bottle of wine.

She knew exactly was he was talking about, but asked him what it was anyway.

“Sasuke!” Fugaku motioned with his hands, and Mikoto’s eyes followed the general direction they were pointing. Through the kitchen opening that led to the dining room, she could see Sasuke immersed in conversation with his great-grandfather.

“Let him be,” she advised. She poured wine for the both of them and they touched their cups before taking a gulp — it was one of their little traditions. “Complaining will only make everything worse.”

“It’s not my intention to complain. I intent to make him shave it all off.” He thanked her for the wine and took a sip of it. 

Mikoto snorted. “That will make everything three times worse.”

Fugaku pursed his lips, not wanting to accept her retorical. “He looks like a punk.”

“You think so?” She eyed Sasuke again, who now had Naruto by his side. “I think he looks stylish. Like a rock star.”

“Exactly.”

She chuckled. “Well, personally, I don’t think it’s so bad. Sasuke is sixteen; he has barely started to discover who he is and styling himself is a great part of that. Personally, I’m fine with how he is doing it. You should be glad. I was fourteen when I first dyed my hair purple.”

The way Fugaku’s head turned on her direction was almost comic. He arched an eyebrow, the widening of his eyes not hiding his surprise.

“My parents hated it, of course,” she continued. “I got home and they all but yelled at me, said I was a rebel with no cause, made me choose: Mother said I would either dye it back to black or Father would have me shave it off.”

“And…? What did you do?”

“I did as they told me to. As _both_ of them told.” She took the glass to her lips, smiling but not sipping just yet. “I shaved half of my head and dyed black the other half.”

Though it didn’t look like it was possible, Fugaku’s eyes widened even more. “You didn’t.”

“I did. They were livid, of course. On the other hand, my grandparents were delighted. That led to a minor mayhem in the household, which resulted on me being grounded and not allowed to go out with my friends for months.”

“You don’t regret it?”

Mikoto scoffed, though she was smiling as the memories came back to her. “No! Of course not. After that, the goody two-shoes here gained some sort of warped respect among the other teens. That was exactly what I wanted. In hindsight, I believe I could have stopped there, or gone a bit more smoothly on my personal vendetta against my parents’ rules, but I don’t regret it. Neither will Sasuke, if you decide to punish him.”

“It’s not punishing,” Fugaku tried to argue, “it’s educating, it’s—”

“I’m just saying,” Mikoto cut him, “kids try to find acceptance somewhere else when they can’t find it at home. I sought parties and alcohol when I was too young to know how to deal with that because I just couldn’t stand what I thought of as a prison. You left home at seventeen because your father wouldn’t let you go study in the capital, and all your siblings followed suit.” She touched his arm, her gaze meeting his. “Hairstyling should be the least of our concerns, love.”

Fugaku went quiet for a few moments. Mikoto could see he was giving thoughts to her words, so she let him be for a few minutes. From their position in the kitchen, they could see everything that was happening in the dining room. She took her phone out from her pocket and started taking candid shots of the party in front of them. 

“Itachi never did any of those things,” Fugaku said, quietly, after a while.

“No,” Mikoto agreed, “but he never opened to us the way Sasuke does. He often preferred to spend time with his cousin than with us. And he did insist on attending a boarding school on the other side of the country when he was fifteen.”

“That was just a boy being a boy. And he did that for education. That was good for him.”

“Yes, but how many teenagers have you met that prioritize their education over their self-assurance?”

Fugaku didn’t answer. Seeing as she managed to get her point through, Mikoto decided to leave him alone for the time being. She kissed him on the lips, softly, but Fugaku lingered on it, as if trying to think something through and Mikoto was part of the answer. She gave him one more smile before leaving him to battle his own reasoning for himself.

She felt like going outside, but it was still snowing heavily. Mikoto settled for the living room instead, which was crowded with people, food and chatter.

A quick glance across the room let her find Sasuke and Naruto sitting on the couch. Michi was in front of them, gesturing for Sasuke to take Kimi from her arms.

At first, Sasuke’s eyes widened and he refused, but Michi (and Naruto, she noticed) insisted.

Mikoto watched as Sasuke took Kimi in his arms, and it was the most adorable and hilarious sight she had seen in years. Sasuke was carrying his baby cousin, the first baby he held in his entire life. Despite the appearance of a frightening rock star, his face was of complete terror mixed with pure cherishing. By his side, Naruto was laughing, helping Sasuke to adjust the baby to a more comfortable position in his lap.

She couldn’t have restrained herself even if she wanted; she grabbed her cell phone and quickly snapped a shot of the boys.

Itachi came to give her a hug. Mikoto showed him the picture she had just taken.

“Adorable,” he said.

“Isn’t it?” Mikoto giggled. The photo actually was really good, and she was already planning to have it printed and attached to one of Sasuke’s childhood albums.

They admired the photo together for a full minute, until Itachi said, “Mother.”

Mikoto lifted her gaze to meet Itachi’s. He had a funny look on his face, something like dread hidden behind a careful smile.

“I believe it’s best you set bedroom door rules from now on,” he told her.

At first, Mikoto didn’t understand what he meant with that. Itachi motioned to her phone with his head, and Mikoto looked back at the picture in her hands.

Sasuke and Naruto were sitting side-by-side, Christmas lights and popcorn in the background and a baby between them; Sasuke looked terrified while Naruto beamed. “Oh,” she said, and, instead of admiring the photo for another minute, lifted her gaze to where Sasuke and Naruto still sat.

Someone took Kimi from Sasuke’s lap, contributing to her tour through the arms of each family member. There was no more baby between Sasuke and Naruto, but they still sat very close. Naruto was blushing slightly as he talked to Sasuke, his gaze lingering on Sasuke’s face fairly frequently; Sasuke all but smiled softly as Naruto spoke, some sort of gentleness in his eyes Mikoto knew very well, but had never seen in her youngest son before.

_“Oh.”_


	8. 25 Minutes

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Day 8: Christmas Dinner.

The restaurant was crowded that night — of course it would be, it was Christmas Eve, after all. Couples exchanged adoring gazes, families traded Secret Santa gifts, and friends and coworkers drank and laughed without so much of a care to the rest of the world. The waiting line outside had reached the peak of fifty minutes, something Naruto had never seen before. (Granted, he hadn’t been working there too long; this was his first big holiday there, actually.)

All the customers seemed to be having fun. The tables were full with delicious food, and although Naruto was happy for them, he felt a sting of jealousy, and a little (a lot) pissed off.

It was the first Christmas he didn’t spend at home, with his family and his boyfriend and his boyfriend’s family. It was also the first year he spent _working_ , of all things. And the thing that made that day suck the most? That year marked his last Christmas at home. Naruto had just finished high school; in a couple of months, he would be moving away from home for a few years to attend college.

It was so unfair!

“Dammit.” Naruto sighed and shook his head in an attempt to repel the self-pitying thoughts and replace it with the perfect waiter-of-the-year grin.

He grabbed the order that had been waiting for him in the kitchen balcony, a succulent roast turkey with a bunch of vegetables, garlic and thyme leaves all around it. It looked delicious, and smelled even better, and Naruto’s stomach rumbled. His shift had started about four hours ago and even with all that food around him, he still hadn’t eaten anything. It actually _hurt_ in his head, in his heart, and especially in his stomach when he put the plate on the designed table and distanced himself from it.

So. Unfair!

“Oh, stop crying, you cry baby!” His coworker, Tenten, teased him when he came back from the table. Naruto could only imagine what kind of expression he was wearing — it must have been a pretty pathetic one, because even as Tenten made fun of him, she was arching her eyebrows and smiling sympathetically. “Tough night, huh.”

“Yeah,” he mumbled. Of course it was: he was away from Mom, Dad, and Sasuke on Christmas Eve, working with a bunch of assholes and piles of succulent food around him that he couldn’t even eat.

“Oh, poor baby,” she said, petting his head. Naruto thought he should be offended, but Tenten was one of the few coworkers that was actually nice to him, and her tone didn’t show any signs of mockery. (Also, he really felt like being pampered.) “Eaten anything yet?”

“No.”

“Well, why not? Your shift started what, three, four hours ago? Naruto, you need to eat or you won’t last until the end of the night.”

“But I didn’t have any breaks!” He almost yelled; thankfully, the restaurant was so crowded and noisy that no one heard him, or at least, no one cared.

“Well, why not? Go get some rest right now!”

“Nah.” He shook his head. “I asked to push my breaks to after midnight.” Naruto didn’t like to stop whatever he was doing in the middle of it, even if it was something annoying and exhausting like being a waiter. Plus, pushing his breaks to after midnight meant he could stop more often at the end of the shift — and he wouldn’t have to deal so much with the worst part of his job: cleaning after the customers.

“Alright, then,” Tenten said, though she looked at him like he was making the most terrible decision. “Just don’t say I didn’t warn you. I’ll make sure to save something for you to eat.”

Naruto lightened up at that. “Turkey?” he asked, hopeful.

Tenten scoffed. “Yeah, dream on. As if there will be any of it left.”

With that, she beckoned him to help clean a table recently vacated. There were still a lot of people waiting outside; that night would be long for the both of them.

_Hmpf._

Deep down, despite his (not so) silent complains, Naruto knew he didn’t have anyone else to blame other than himself for the situation he was in.

Naruto had never been very good with money. He grew up receiving monthly allowances from his parents, but instead of using that privilege to learn basic economics, he always ended up spending everything in a week or two and never saving anything. This habit of his led to several lectures and even cutting up his allowance a month or two, but Naruto never learned.

His parents did warn him they would cut the allowance permanently if he kept being irresponsible, but Naruto never really believed them. They were just too soft on the inside, and Naruto knew he was just too cute with his smile and his big blue eyes, which he knew exactly how to use to get what he wanted from anyone who loved him.

That overconfidence proved to come back to bite him in the ass, though.

A couple of months ago, when he turned eighteen, his parents decided they would go forth with their promise and cut his allowance once and for all. Of course Naruto asked them not to, and then gave them the puppy eyes, and then cried, and then yelled, and then said he was sorry and gave them a hug, and then smiled and obeyed religiously, and then tried bargaining with them, and then cried again and then _begged_ , but nothing seemed to change their minds.

They assured him the allowance would come back, even more generous, as soon as he started college, but that didn’t even count because Naruto would study on another city entirely, he would have bills to pay, books and clothes and food to buy. The help from his parents would be enough to afford his expenses, but if he wanted to buy something else for himself, he would have to work for it nonetheless.

So, with Christmas coming and Naruto wanting to buy something special for Sasuke before they parted ways to their respective universities, but being absolutely penniless, he decided to find a job.

That part had been easier than he thought — who would guess restaurants offered more job opportunities near the holidays? The hardest part, however, was going there every day, all day, and some nights as well. (Naruto honestly didn’t expect to have to work on Christmas Eve, of all days. Why hadn’t anyone told him that in advance?) That, and being treated like a child by his co-workers.

Naruto quickly found out he was the youngest of the entire staff. Most of his peers were in college or past beyond that, and only worked there because they needed, not because they wanted to buy someone a gift. Now, Naruto understood he was a privileged boy in many aspects, and he knew not many people had the luck he had to have parents, a nice home, someone he loved and loved him back, and the opportunity to attend university. He also knew _he_ was the one being unfair with his parents, because he was, indeed, practically throwing a tantrum because he wouldn’t have a couple of pennies for a few months.

Still, he didn’t appreciate being called a spoiled brat.

Naruto watched ruefully as the night went on. Soon it was midnight and everyone was hugging and kissing and wishing each other Merry Christmas (while he was there, cleaning tables). At one in the morning, he decided to finally take his first break.

“I’ll be outside,” he warned Tenten, who beckoned him.

“Twenty five minutes,” she reminded him as she gave him some food packed in a lunch box. “No more, no less. We really need your help here.”

“Gotcha.” Naruto gave her a big, genuine smile. “Thanks!”

The restaurant was actually pretty big; its area ranged from one street to another right behind, like most buildings around that area of town. Beside the restaurant, a narrow alleyway separated the building from the neighbor's, and it was there almost everyone took their breaks. Because of that habit, the owner decided to have it closed with two big metal doors that only opened from the inside, so they could take the trash out but still have a bit of security as they rested. That night, Naruto’s co-workers put a table and a few chairs in there, knowing it would be a tough night and they probably wouldn’t have too much time to sit down.

He had barely set the lunch box in the plastic table when he fished his cell phone from his pocket, anxious to talk to Sasuke. His boyfriend was home, but Naruto let him know he would call around one or two in the morning, so he expected Sasuke would be waiting for it.

Sasuke picked up in the third ring. “Are you done yet?” he asked, as a form of hello.

“Merry Christmas to you too, asshole,” Naruto said. “No, I’m just taking a break. Won’t be out of here till like, four of five in the morning.”

“I thought you said you’d be done after midnight.” Sasuke sounded annoyed.

“I thought so, too, but man, this place is crowded! Why these people choose to go celebrate Christmas in a restaurant, of all places? It feels so… cold. Y’know, impersonal, I mean.” He sat in one of the chairs and looked around. The giant trash dumps were full, and the alley was already starting to smell bad with not-so fresh food. “Man, this place stinks!”

“The restaurant?”

“No, I’m outside.”

“In that alley?”

“Yep. We set a table and some chair here, it is actually pretty nice? These people here know how to make even plastic tables look fancy.” He snickered at his own joke.

“Open the door. I’m going there.”

“Wait, what? What you—“ Sasuke hang up on him before Naruto could finish the sentence.

Not two minutes later, he heard a soft bang on the metal door that got to the backside of the restaurant, and he unlocked it. Sasuke quickly passed through the door into the alley-cum-break room.

“Hey,” Naruto greeted, quickly closing the big metal door again. He turned to Sasuke. “You’re here.”

“I am.” Sasuke was eyeing him, looking simultaneously annoyed and eager. He was carrying something in his hands.

“What’s that?”

Sasuke lifted the bag. Its shape looked a lot like the lunch box Tenten had given him. “My mother thought you wouldn’t have a problem finding food, but she wanted to share our Christmas dinner with you anyway.”

Naruto couldn’t stop the smile that crawled up his face. He had been crazy to talk to Sasuke all night, but seeing him was so much better. He walked to Sasuke and put his arms around him, bringing him closer. “Thanks,” he said, meaning it for both Sasuke and Mikoto. “How did you get here? It’s too late to take the bus.”

“Itachi drove me. We thought your shift would be over around now.”

“Nah. Just way later. Ugh.” Naruto groaned, and let his head fall on the crook of Sasuke’s neck. He breathed deeply, taking in Sasuke’s scent. “You have no idea how crazy it’s been here all night.” Sasuke smelled so good. All Naruto wanted right then was crawl on Itachi’s car and let Sasuke take him home, to his bed.

“Damn, Naruto.” Sasuke’s arms went around him, and he caressed the back of Naruto’s head with one of his hands. “Why do you have to be such an idiot?”

“I’m not,” Naruto whined, though he was, kinda. When it was about money, at least.

“You need to learn how to control your expenses. And you didn’t have to take this job, you know.”

“I have a good reason.”

“Really. And what would that reason be?”

“Can’t tell you. It’s a surprise.” He lifted his head so he could look at Sasuke in the eye. “Gimme a kiss.”

Sasuke did, and Naruto enjoyed a few moments of bliss as he forgot all about his job and the terrible night he was having. Then his stomach rumbled, and Sasuke stopped the kiss.

“Heh,” Naruto laughed, embarrassed, scratching the back of his neck. “You hungry?”

“No. We already had dinner. But you are,” Sasuke answered, lifting the homemade lunch box towards him.

Naruto couldn’t deny that. He was practically starving, so he guided his boyfriend to one of the plastic chairs and proceeded to open the two lunch boxes, feeling the happiest he’d felt all night. Sasuke’s mom’s food was delicious, and Tenten actually managed to save him a slice of turkey (she was so awesome!). Naruto quickly mixed the contents of the two boxes and started to eat. 

“So,” he started to say, ignoring Sasuke’s disgusted face at seeing him talking with his mouth full. “How was Christmas home? Tell me everything.”

Sasuke shrugged. “It was okay. Normal.”

Naruto knew he was lying. Christmas was always awesome — both of his moms made sure of that — but Naruto didn’t want to feel more jealous than he was already feeling, so he didn’t pressure the subject.

They were sitting side by side in the plastic chairs. Naruto moved his own chair a little bit so he could lean on his boyfriend while he ate. Sasuke welcomed him, putting an arm around him, on the backrest, and started playing with the hair on Naruto’s nape.

“You and Itachi gonna wait for me?”

“I don’t think he’ll agree to wait in the car until five in the morning.”

Naruto nodded. He already expected that — in fact, he didn’t expect them to be here at all — but he couldn’t help feeling a bit disappointed. (All right, perhaps he was a bit of a spoiled brat, after all…)

They shared a comfortable silence after that, Naruto enjoying Sasuke’s fingers moving across his hair as he ate his food. After a while, halfway through his meal, Naruto looked at the watch in his pulse. “Damn. Only fifteen minutes left.”

Sasuke sighed. “That sucks.”

“Tell me about it. Hey, but it’s nice having you here. I mean, it’s not the same as being home and all, but you’re here, so.” He smiled. “It’s a good Christmas.”

“I disagree,” Sasuke said, pulling a bit hard on few strands of Naruto’s hair. “I’d rather you weren’t so stupid to have to work on our last Christmas Eve together.”

“Don’t say that. It’s not the last.” Naruto pouted (or tried to; he had a bunch of food in his mouth, but he managed). “And this is just temporary.” As soon as he got his payment, which would happen only after the New Years, he would get the hell away from there. His boss said he wouldn’t open on New Year’s Eve, so he would have that night free, at least. “I just want to buy you a gift for being so awesome and sexy.”

Sasuke snorted, though he was smiling. “Usuratonkachi,” he whispered the nickname he had given Naruto when they were children. It meant idiot, but Naruto knew Sasuke mostly used it when he didn’t want to be mean.

Naruto went back to his food, trying to eat it as fast as he could (even though Sasuke told him not to), so he could enjoy some quality time with his boyfriend. As soon as he finished, he turned to Sasuke.

“Kiss me.”

“Your breath smells like garlic,” Sasuke complained halfheartedly.

“Don’t care,” Naruto countered, and leaned in.

They kissed tenderly, Sasuke cradling Naruto’s head between his hands. Naruto was lost in the kiss, in Sasuke’s tongue rolling against his, Sasuke’s scent, Sasuke’s touch.

Until: “Naruto!” Came Tenten’s scream from inside the restaurant as the door to the alleyway banged open. “Your break is over!”

“Aw, no,” Naruto whined, pulling away from Sasuke. “Five more minutes! Please.”

Tenten scowled, and Naruto thought she was going to yell at him, but then her eyes drifted to Sasuke. She didn’t bat an eyelash at the stranger by his side (perhaps it was a normal occurrence among the staff?) “Ugh!” She grunted, but turned around. “Not even a second more,” she said, and closed the door behind her, but not before yelling, “Spoiled brat!”

Naruto stuck his tongue at the closed door, and was immediately reprimanded by Sasuke.

“Don’t be rude to your superior.”

“She’s not my superior! And didn’t you see the way she was talking to me?”

Sasuke smirked. “You really are a spoiled brat.”

Naruto stuck his tongue at him, but snickered right afterwards. He leaned in for another kiss, but Sasuke stopped him.

“You don’t want to get in trouble.”

“But Sasuke,” Naruto whined, but Sasuke shushed him. He got up and walked towards where he came from. He unlocked the door himself. “Call me when your shift is over. I’ll come pick you up?”

“You?” He didn’t want to sound like a jerk, but neither him nor Sasuke had taken their driver’s licenses yet. Sasuke would be depending on Itachi’s good will there. “But Itachi won’t want to drive all the way here again.”

“I’ll make him.”

Sasuke gave him one last quick kiss before slipping out through the door. Naruto sighed, watching his boyfriend cross the street towards Itachi’s car and wishing he could go with them.

He thought about the awesome guitar saw in a store a few weeks ago. Sasuke had stopped playing and composing altogether more than a year ago, focusing entirely on studying to get in the university he wanted. He had received the admission letter for Oto University a month ago, and although Naruto was happy for him, he imagined Sasuke living all the way across the country, away from his family, from his friends, from him. Naruto didn’t want Sasuke to feel lonely, and he thought maybe if he went back to composing songs, it would make the eventual loneliness easier to cope.

Maybe Sasuke would compose more lyrics to fill the notebook he kept throughout the years. Maybe he would play a song for Naruto every once in a while, through video calls. He had already reserved the guitar on the store; he only needed the money, which he would get after the New Years. It would be a perfect gift.

With those thoughts in mind, Naruto locked the metal door again, cleaned the plastic table and went back inside.


	9. Can't Resist

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Even though the theme demands it, I didn't want to change the rating of this story for something more mature or even explicit - it just didn't feel right, considering the general theme and all. It took me a while, but I figured out how to do it. This is installment is closely attached and directly followed by chapter 10, so I'm uploading both of them all at once :)
> 
> Day 9: Xmas Sexmas.

Attending University of Suna for the past two years helped Naruto realize he much preferred Suna’s weather to Konoha’s. He liked how it was always sunny and warm over there, and even though the air was a bit dry, it was nothing that keeping hydrated couldn’t solve. In Suna, they didn’t have snow to block the roads nor blizzards to delay flights, therefore, no surprises in the middle of trips.

It was mid-December and finally the semester was over. What should have been a four-hour long trip back home took twenty-seven hours, but finally Naruto was home for winter break, albeit a little (a lot) grumpy and tired.

His mom greeted him at the doorstep as soon as he got out of the cab. “Welcome home!” His dad was right behind her. “We missed you!”

Naruto hugged his parents tightly, having missed them a whole lot, too. He loved Suna and his new life as an university student, but, even after two years, the truth was that he still hadn’t gotten used to not having Mom and Dad around to help him with everything whenever he needed it. He was _so_ ready to being pampered and spoiled rotten the next few days!

“Where are you going?” Naruto asked half an hour later, coming to stop at the entrance of his parents’ bedroom after a nice, warm shower. His mom had changed from the sweatpants she had been wearing to an elegant evening dress.

She was brushing her hair, pulling it up in a messy hairdo as she measured herself in front of the full body mirror. “To the theater,” she answered, casually.

“What? Why?”

“What do you mean ‘why’?” She didn’t even stop fumbling with her hair. “Because we want to.”

“But I just got here!”

“Yeah…” She gave him an apologetic smile. “I’m so sorry, sweetie. We thought you’d be home yesterday, so we bought tickets for today’s play. Those were really expensive, so we’re not gonna waste them. You understand, don’t you?”

Naruto crossed his arms. “I can’t believe you’re gonna leave me alone on my first night home.”

“Aw, don’t pout. It’s not gonna take more than a couple of hours, I promise.” She kissed his forehead. “How do I look?”

Naruto’s mom was beautiful, so of course she looked good. He told her so, which earned him a big happy smile and another kiss on the forehead. The pleasantries did nothing to convince her to stay home with him, though.

“Bad parents, you two are,” Naruto accused, though he didn’t mean it, not really, and his parents knew it. They laughed, and Naruto wished them a good play. “Be careful. Have fun!”

“We will!” With that, they were out.

Naruto decided that, since he wouldn’t have pampering from his own parents that night, he would get it from someone else. He hadn’t planned on visiting his boyfriend on the first hour home (they had agreed last year that the first night home should be dedicated to their families), but to heck with it — he was needy!

He put on some nice clothes and the perfume Sasuke liked and dashed to his boyfriend’s home, which was just next door.

He caught Mikoto and Fugaku on their way out, dressed just as elegantly as Naruto’s parents were. They were going to the same play, Mikoto told him. A couple of pleasantries were exchanged, but they didn’t seem to be very interested in talking to him at that moment. One minute Naruto was happily telling them about college, and then the other they were getting inside Dad’s car, who already had it turned on and practically entering the track already.

Oh, well. Naruto shrugged, trying not to grimace. If no one wanted to talk to him, whatever.

He got inside, already familiar with Sasuke’s home as if it were his own — in a way, it kinda was — and climbed the stairs in search for his boyfriend.

Sasuke was in the main bathroom, the first door in the upstairs corridor, shaving. Naruto stopped at the entrance, leaning on the doorframe, eyeing Sasuke from head to toe.

“Damn, you look good.”

Sasuke didn’t seem affected by his sudden appearance, but Naruto saw the distinct glint in his eyes, a tell-tale of his surprise (and delight!) of seeing him. “Your parents ditched you?” he teased, and Naruto snorted.

“Can you believe it? The first night I’m home in the whole year and they just go out! As if I’m nothing to them!”

“Don’t be so dramatic.”

Naruto crossed his arms. “Mom said the same thing. I’m not being dramatic, though.”

“Yes, you are. You always are.”

Sasuke leaned on the sink, rinsing the remains of the shaving cream. Before he straightened up again, Naruto reached for the white towel beside the sink. He applied a generous amount of the oil Sasuke liked to use after shaving and, once his boyfriend was back up, pressed it against Sasuke’s face.

“Am not,” Naruto said, more to keep on the jab than to actually sound convincing. 

Softly, he brushed the towel lightly against Sasuke’s jaw, chin and cheeks, careful to not irritate the pale skin. Sasuke’s skin was so sensitive — to razor blades, to fingernails, even to lips and teeth. It was pale, soft, clean — a bit too clean for Naruto’s taste; it was in desperate need for a hickey or two, he decided.

“You were getting pretty and good for me?” Naruto asked, his lips curving in a teasing smile.

“You would like that, wouldn’t you?”

“Uh-huh. A lot.”

Sasuke rolled his eyes, the rest of his body motionless as Naruto cleaned his freshly shaved skin.

“Hey,” Naruto said after he was done, lifting Sasuke’s face so he could better admire it. Sasuke’s skin was clean, dry and so damn seductive. “I missed you.”

Sasuke’s lips curved upwards, and though he didn’t say anything, Naruto could see those words pleased him very much. He put both of his hands on Naruto’s chest, and before Naruto realized it, he was pulling Sasuke into a needy kiss, that soon developed into something more.

“Babe,” Naruto said, his voice coming out hoarse and paused, in between kisses and pecks. “I missed you. So. Damn. Much.” He grabbed what he could of his lover, squeezing his hips, grabbing his buttocks. Sasuke smelled so good, and felt even better. “Fuck, Sas—ah!” A hiss; Sasuke bit him just _there_. “You’re so sexy.”

He enveloped Sasuke in his arms, hugging him tightly against himself, enjoying the way Sasuke was clutching at him, pulling him closer, needing Naruto as much as Naruto needed him.

“Naruto,” Sasuke managed to say, pulling apart enough to ask, “here?” He was panting, that gorgeous pale skin flushed under Naruto’s touch. Although the question was meant to slow them down and bring some kind of reasoning on Naruto’s head, the image in front of him only caused his need to ache even more. It had been so long.

“Yeah.” Naruto dipped his head on the crook of Sasuke’s neck, biting right _there_ , where Sasuke liked it. “Why not,” he grunted against his lover’s neck, licking a path up to his earlobe. “No one’s home.” He nipped Sasuke’s earlobe. “We’re fine.”

He felt Sasuke gradually crumbing under his ministrations, giving in to his touches and caresses, losing reason and self-restraint and everything that might keep him from Naruto’s reach. That alone gave Naruto an intense sense of power, of his favourite kind. “Naruto—aah!” Sasuke moaned, and Naruto gave in to his own urges. He grabbed Sasuke and took a few steps forward, pushing them both more into the bathroom and kicking the door, closing it behind him.


	10. Make Amends

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This takes place directly after the last paragraphs of last chapter. Detracts a little from the overall feeling of the other chapters, though (could be considered an interlude of some sort?).  
>  _ **Trigger warning:** homophobia, character trying to deal with his own prejudices._
> 
> Day 10: Ghosts of Christmas Past.

The first time Fugaku realized — but actually, fully _realized_ — Sasuke and Naruto were in a romantic, steady, sexual relationship, was as shocking as it was unexpected. It was also completely inappropriate and unrequested.

On the way to the theater, Fugaku realized he had forgotten his wallet (something that rarely happened), in which were his and Mikoto’s tickets to the play they were going to see. Nothing to worry about, though. Minato made the turn with the car and soon they were at his doorstep.

Quickly, he went upstairs, to the master bedroom. Retrieving his wallet was easy enough: it was on the bedside table, where he had left it. Nothing unusual, nothing out of the ordinary.

However, as he crossed the corridor, right in front of the main bathroom on his way back, Fugaku heard a distinguishable, “Naruto—aah!”

He had not expected it, nor had he _wanted_ to hear it in the first place. But the lewd sounds were just too much for him to ignore, too telling for him to feign ignorance, and too shocking for him to know how to react.

For a good few minutes, Fugaku didn’t know what to do with himself. He was petrified there, in the middle of the corridor, which caused him to hear more than he ever cared to acknowledge.

Not that the concept of the two boys being together was all that new to him. Mikoto had hinted at it when they were teenagers and, months later, Sasuke and Naruto assumed their relationship to both of their families. Kushina cheered (“Hah! I told you,” she had screamed at the occasion, pointing across the dinner table to Minato, who just laughed), Minato nodded, acknowledging and approving of that relationship, and Itachi smiled while Mikoto hugged them both. The whole ordeal had been pretty embarrassing to Fugaku, both because the other’s reactions weren’t what he would expect in a situation like that and because he seemed to be the only one in that table who _hadn’t_ expected that exchange to happen whatsoever. 

Common sense told him to keep quiet, though, so he followed in suit and nodded his approval.

In the present time, he stayed there, in front of the bathroom door, wallet in hands, for what seemed like a decade. Objectively, it couldn’t have been more than three minutes. When another libidinous moan found its way across the bathroom door, Fugaku snapped out of his stupor and quickly went downstairs, out of the house, inside the car.

On the way to the theater, he tried to keep up with the chitchat while telling himself that he what had just happened didn’t affect in the least. The play they were going to see was highly recommended, good reviews popping up in every other newspaper. Mikoto had been very excited to see it, and so had Fugaku and everyone else he knew. She was going to have fun that night and that was the only thing that mattered right then.

However, try as he might, Fugaku wasn’t able to pay attention to the play. As good as it might have been, the play failed to distract him from his own thoughts. The actors performed majestically, exchanging dialogues that fascinated his wife, and surely would do the same to him.

Fugaku was a businessman and a very competent one for that matter. He always prided himself for being a very observant person. He liked to imagine he could read anyone at any time, give him just a couple of minutes of conversation, and that, more than a few times, helped him develop and grow his business and provide a comfortable life for his family.

Nevertheless, as the actors went from one corner of the stage to another, doing their best to capture and keep the public’s attention, Fugaku let his mind wander away from the play, from that night, to the memories he only now thought to revisit. The various scenes, the many, many moments that gave away—

(How silly, how naïve of him!)

—what certainly wouldn’t have surprised him, if only he hadn’t blinded himself behind…

(Behind what?)

…his notions and… and beliefs.

The fact that every single person on that table in that restaurant had picked on Sasuke and Naruto’s relationship before the boys even cared to admit it aloud, except for him… well, Fugaku felt stupid. More than that, he felt the whole situation (and he, himself) was unfitting.

It (he?) was embarrassing.

It was extraneous. (That?)

It was uncomfortable.

(Them?)

The actors finished their presentation over excited ovation. They smiled the smile of a job well done. Meanwhile, Fugaku ended that night sodden in opinions and doubts he never expected to face. He lay that night beside Mikoto hoping those thoughts would drift away after a good night of sleep, and he would have his entire notions rearranged and given back to him early in the morning.

Wishful thinking.

The next days were hardly unlike those agonizing hours in the theater. Soon Christmas came, bringing snow and his oldest son, one of the halves of his pride, home for the holidays. As always, Fugaku shared a nice night with his family and his neighbors, who, after so many years, were sort of family as well. The holiday was just how Fugaku enjoyed it, cozy, intimate and not very loud, but that nagging feeling inside him, that thing that turned his insides and kept him up at night, would not go away.

He caught himself watching Naruto and Sasuke more closely than ever. (He tried his best not to show it, though.)

There was nothing disparate from what they always acted: the friendly banter was there, as well as the silent communication and the distinct symbiotic relationship that consisted of agreements and disagreements, sometimes ferocious, sometimes mild, following a logic no one besides Sasuke and Naruto seemed to fully comprehend. Fugaku had gotten used to this after twenty years of exposure; he considered it common, albeit not exactly normal.

However, as he watched with a bit more attention — and eyes open wider — he also started to see the intimate touches, the affectionate smiles, and the lingering gazes. Without having to think too much Fugaku understood those were common occurrence, and he wondered how, and why, hadn’t he noticed — really, actually _noticed_ — them before.

Simultaneously, he couldn’t help feeling somewhat… disgusted might not be the right world, but… distraught. At that behavior. Which was simply insane, considering he had been exposed to that for, what, three, maybe four years already?

_How_ could he not have noticed?

Fugaku couldn’t help associating Sasuke and Naruto’s behavior to that of a couple in a romantic relationship, which was nothing sort but obvious — they were assumedly together, after all. There was nothing to hide there. Yet, the dots connected easily, almost automatically in his head: Sasuke and Naruto were boys; they were romantically involved; they were wrong.

(Wrong?)

Being the rational person that he was, and being the worried parent that he tried his best to be, Fugaku tried to justify, or at least understand, his train of thoughts. Surely there was some kind of logic explanation why he felt so distraught at his son’s and his childhood best friend’s relationship. Surely, there was a reason, a genuine selfless concern over his son’s well-being.

Sasuke and Naruto were twenty. They had barely started to learn of the hardships of the world and recognize themselves amidst the cruel wildness it could be. Fugaku worried for them. It wasn’t an easy world out there; fitting in was hard enough when you had no problems, but…

Furthermore, Fugaku considered the option that it was just a phase. Certainly he had dated and experimented when he was young (not at that level, though), but he was already on his thirties when he met the woman to whom he admitted falling in love for.

That could be exactly it. Maybe it was just a phase. Maybe it was just confusion and curiosity. Maybe. Maybe…

He paused.

Maybe he was just a homophobe.

Fugaku cringed as the idea crossed his mind. The mere thought of harboring some kind of phobia against his own son made his stomach turn and his head spin with self-disgust.

Always a pragmatic man, Fugaku considered doing some research before doing anything. The night after Christmas, he sat in front of his computer, opened the internet browser and typed exactly what was on his mind: _gay son, how can I not be a homophobic parent_. The search engine didn’t provide him with many answers for what he was looking for, but it did brought to light several stories — real and fictional — of individuals who were on the other side of this problem he saw himself into.

What he read was enough to horrify him. Abuse, neglect, disregard, disowning. The narratives he found horrified him. In less than one hour reading through them, Fugaku concluded that the words ‘homophobia’ and ‘parents’ together more often than not related to _pain_.

For the umpteenth time that week, his stomach turned. The thought lowing himself to those horrible excuses of parents, of being the source of his own son’s pain…

But how could he forget everything he was taught of being right and wrong, without hurting his own pride, his own beliefs, his own intellect? How could he not be… _that_?

_Just don’t be_ , he found himself providing his own answer, almost as a second logic, buried deep down inside his mind. It was so simple and obvious — just don’t be — he had difficult to comprehend.

Sighing, Fugaku got up from his desk and left his office. It wasn’t late at night, but the house was silent and nearly empty. Itachi and Mikoto had gone somewhere. It was just Sasuke and him in that big house for a couple of hours.

He crossed the hall, passed right in front of the bedroom and descended the stairs, walking towards the rack in the living room. Mikoto kept dozens of albums of their sons’ childhood in there. Fugaku picked one with Sasuke’ name in it. He sat down in his chair and opened the album.

What he saw was exactly what he expected: photographs of his youngest son in various phases of his life.

Fugaku took his time analyzing every photography. Each image showed Sasuke doing or showing something uniquely of his. There he was, with those curious eyes, bottle in hands, watching his mother attend her still small garden in the backyard. There were candid pictures and staged photos of him in various poses and fantasies: cowboy, marine, vampire. There was his distinct frown when he wasn’t pleased with whatever was happening around him — it had been more cute than frightening, once, when he hadn’t quite managed that perfect coldness in his eyes.

There were pages and pages of Sasuke, and in every single one of them, there he was: his son, the blood of his blood, the other half of his pride (even if, Fugaku knew, he never really showed it enough).

He turned the pages slowly, with an emotion that clutched his chest, viewing, both in the pictures and in the memories flashing through his mind, Sasuke growing up to be the young man he had become now.

And, he couldn’t not notice now, in some of those pages there it was as well: Sasuke and Naruto together, being kids, being teens; sharing laughter and tacky kids costumes, sharing hugs and sweet… tender… gazes.

There it was. It was there. Those candid moments that unfolded and revealed everything an attentive enough onlooker would have notice years ago.

It had always been there. 

Had Fugaku put that much effort not to see it?

Soon he caught his thoughts drifting from a childhood to another. From pleasant memories to unpleasant experiences. From his son to his father.

Fugaku had known fear quite early in his life. Early, as well, he decided to abandon it.

Four decades ago, he left his father’s home, his demands and beatings, a backpack with some food and clothes on his back. With him, he carried a bunch of books and a lot of hatred. He swore many things then: that he would never come back, that he would never speak to his family again, that he would take the reins of his own life and strive to become what _he_ wanted to be, not what others wanted for him.

Some of those promises he hadn’t been able to keep. Some of them he eventually didn’t want to keep. He came back a couple of years later, when his mother and his siblings needed his help. He visited them, he helped them, and he assisted his mother every last hour of her days in the hospital.

Some of those promises he could not, did not want to let go.

Fugaku’s father was an austere man. Well, perhaps austere was an understatement. He was strict, authoritarian, borderline cruel. He never let anything amiss in their home: Fugaku and his sibling always had food in the table, always had clothes to wear for school. However, he didn’t care for letting go of his own beliefs and ideals to listen for them for just a minute, and he made sure to ‘discipline’ them whenever there was a mere hint of disagreement.

With that worn out backpack and his books, Fugaku once swore he would never speak to his father again. He swore he would be a better man than he ever was, and, when the day came that he had kids of his own, he would be a better father than that man ever was.

Time passed. He grew up, became the man he wanted to become, fell in love and became a husband, a parent. He strived, he educated himself, he disciplined himself. In everything he ever proposed for himself, he succeeded.

Despite all his success, the ghost of his father still lingered. His presence, his markings, most of it all was still there — would always be there, Fugaku acquiesced, but with old age came the means to deal with that misfortune.

He hadn’t spoken to his own father in forty-five years. (And he didn’t regret it.)

He imagined if Sasuke ever felt for him the same way he felt for his father, even if just a tiny fraction of something similar. If so, Fugaku didn’t think he would be able to handle it. The mere thought of Sasuke deciding one day to pack his belongings and leaving to never come back, to never look in his eyes again…

No. That can’t be.

Fugaku would keep his promise. He would not be his father. He would be a better man than he ever was.

He closed the album and put it in its place, where Mikoto liked it to be. He went upstairs, to his office, and shut down the computer, turned off the lights. He went downstairs again and took a glass of water, then another. He considered making a cup of coffee, but it was already too late for that, and he wasn’t feeling so good as it was.

He breathed in, breathed out. Repeat.

Finally, he climbed the stairs again. He passed the bathroom door. Sasuke’s room was the last door in the corridor. Fugaku knocked, waiting for the soft, “Come in,” that came no more than a few seconds later.

Sasuke was on his bed, resting his back on the headboard, reading a book. He seemed relaxed when Fugaku opened the door, but as soon as he noticed who entered the room, Sasuke eyed him warily. As if waiting for him to do or say something harmful. When had Sasuke started to look at him like this? The realization tore at Fugaku’s heart and, mostly, at his pride.

“How’s college?” Fugaku asked, trying to make small talk.

“Fine,” Sasuke answered.

“Are you enjoying the classes?”

“Yes. A lot.”

“Your grades?”

“Good.”

“Good.” Fugaku nodded. He thought of asking if Sasuke had made any friends, but he wasn’t sure if that kind of question would be too invasive, too personal. (Which was ironic, considering the purpose he came into his room in the first place.)

Slowly, with careful steps, he walked to Sasuke’s bed. He sat on the edge of the bed, by his son’s feet. Sasuke watched him in silence, but didn’t say anything. He didn’t close his book either, holding it in front of his chest instead, as if it were some kind of shield. It was something he got to do quite often over the past few years, Fugaku recognized.

(A shield against his own father. That can’t be.)

Fugaku didn’t say anything, either, not at first. He didn’t know what to say or do, how to say it. He didn’t want to need to have this conversation. He felt uncomfortable.

“So,” he started, after too much time of uncomfortable silence stretched between them.

Sasuke arched an eyebrow, but kept quiet, waiting for him to continue.

So he did, unsure. “You and Naruto, huh.”

It didn’t sound as open as he wanted it to sound. He saw Sasuke’s eyes widening briefly before that surprise was replaced with… something — that he had never seen in his son’s eyes, at least not directed at him — and Sasuke diverted his gaze.

Fugaku coughed. “Uhm…” he said, but the next words didn’t come as naturally. They didn’t come at all.

Then, to his relief, Sasuke straightened up. He moved so he was sitting side by side with Fugaku, one leg folded under his body while the other hanged out of the bed. He seemed many things Fugaku wasn’t sure he could exactly read, though he believed relaxed might be one of them.

“Yeah,” Sasuke said, “Naruto and me.”

He closed his book.


	11. Sweaters

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, this is for SNS Xmas 2015. Yes, this is a year late. There's a perfect logical explanation for that, and that is: I'm lame. That is the extension of my lameness. I am ASHAMED. I'm sorry for it, and please don't let it ruin the fic to you.
> 
> Day 11: Presents.

“What do you think, the blue or the green one?”

Sasuke almost tripped as he entered the pet store and was practically tackled by Naruto, who, visibly excited, held two big bone-shaped rubber toys in his hands. Sasuke analyzed the scene in front of him, and immediately found two main problems in that whole context: one, this wasn’t where they had agreed to meet to buy the Christmas presents for that year; two, those toys were meant for dogs, not humans. They didn’t have a dog.

“Don’t tell me you’re picking gifts for Makkachin,” Sasuke said, exasperated, “again.”

“Well…” Naruto gave him that half smile that meant he thought he was being sly and actually tricking Sasuke into something. “…not exactly?”

Sasuke let his eyes travel to the shopping basket hanging on Naruto’s arm. It was full of equally colorful rubber toys. “The others animals too?”

Naruto knew he couldn’t deny it for too long. “Well, of course! What do you think I am? An inconsiderate bug?”

Sasuke sighed. This was going to be long. He had just gotten off the last day of another unpaid internship in another company. Though he took off with critically good news, he was tired, hungry, stressed, and really out of patience to walk around the mall and shop the whole night. It was the day before Christmas Eve and everywhere was crowded, but Naruto had insisted. Sasuke wondered if he did so in hopes Sasuke would stop him from going crazy with the credit card (or what was left of it). He had to muster every drop of critical thinking left in him to engage in that argument _again _. “Naruto, you don’t have to buy gifts for every animal that visits the clinic. That’s not being considerate, that’s just insane.”__

__Naruto pouted. “But Sasuke, you have to see their faces when—”_ _

__“No.”_ _

__“But it’s just little gifts—”_ _

__“They are animals. They won’t miss it.”_ _

__“Don’t say it like that!”_ _

__Sasuke looked around. They weren’t exactly shouting, but Naruto’s voice was naturally loud. He took his boyfriend by the elbow and made him walk with him through the aisles, as if choosing more toys to buy. “Well, they are animals,” Sasuke said, calmly._ _

__“Yeah, but you say it like it’s an offence,” Naruto complained, holding tight to the two rubber toys as Sasuke dragged him around. “And yes, they will miss it. I can tell. How can I let them miss on being pampered?”_ _

__“It’s not your job to pamper other people’s pets, Naruto. You’re their vet, not their owner.”_ _

__“But Sasuke!”_ _

__In the back of his mind, Sasuke somewhat saw that coming. Ever since graduating, Naruto dreamt of setting up his own veterinary clinic. He had been living that dream for almost three months now, and Sasuke understood, he really did, that his lover was euphoric. However, they had to be careful. They put all their savings, every credit in their names, everything, on that clinic. As talented and passionate for his profession as Naruto was, Sasuke didn’t expect it would actually reach profit point for another two years, maybe three. They were essentially broke._ _

__“We have no money.”_ _

__That served shut Naruto up for a moment. He eyed the basket full of toys he was carrying. “Itachi can pass by without a gift for one Christmas,” Naruto mused, and paused. “I can, too,” he added, much more quietly than previously. It seemed he was holding himself not to pout, and Sasuke couldn’t hold a chuckle at that. Knowing Naruto all his life, he knew how mature his boyfriend really was, when he wanted, but he could be the most childish idiot in the world, too. Sometimes it took a toll on Sasuke’s nerves, but he couldn’t deny it had its adorable quality._ _

__“You don’t wanna leave my brother without gifts. And you wouldn’t wanna spoil your clientele, would you? Some owners might not like that.”_ _

__“…Makkachin’s wouldn’t mind.” Now Naruto was definitely pouting. Sasuke didn’t know whether to laugh or slap him._ _

__“All right.” He decided to relent. “Only for Makkachin, then.” Sasuke heard so much of Naruto’s very first and so far most loyal patient, but try as he might, he couldn’t remember what the dog actually looked like; he must have been more tired than he thought. He took the two rubber bones and analyzed them as if he did, nonetheless. “The green one,” he said, certain._ _

__“Why?”_ _

__“It agrees with him.”_ _

__“All right.” Naruto stared at the green toy for a few moments before accepting Sasuke’s suggestion. “So.” He lifted the basket for Sasuke to see. “We return it all, then?”_ _

__“Yes.”_ _

__They walked around the store returning every single toy Naruto had gathered. How he managed to fill that many objects in a single tiny basket was a mystery Sasuke didn’t have the energy to solve. He thought Naruto would be more upset to return all the goodies, but surprisingly (and thankfully), he only had to have that entire argument once more. In the end, they left the pet store with the green bone toy and a couple cleaning tools Naruto needed._ _

__The mall, as Sasuke expected, was even more crowded than when he got there earlier, much to his dismay._ _

__“So what do we do now?” Naruto asked._ _

__“Go home,” Sasuke answered. He was starting to get a headache._ _

__“What? No way. We haven’t even started yet. C’mon.” Naruto took his hand and dragged him around so they could look in the windows of the stores._ _

__Sasuke hated last minute shopping. He hated even more last minute Christmas shopping, mainly because of the sea of people that suddenly invaded the stores — it was impossible to walk around or look at the windows without bumping into someone — and also because the already pricey “sales” became even more overpriced. Usually he just anticipated the gifts people would like to get and bought stuff throughout the year, then kept it stacked in a closet until Christmas. This year, with the clinic and all, it was impossible. Which was fine, Sasuke wasn’t complaining._ _

__Except he was._ _

__“No,” he said when Naruto pointed to a shoe store. “No,” he repeated when Naruto pointed to a gold watch in a window. “Are you crazy?” he asked when Naruto pointed to a jewelry store._ _

__“Well, at least I’m trying,” Naruto retorted, frowning at Sasuke. “What about…”_ _

__“No, no, no,” Sasuke kept repeating for at least one hour. After they had crossed the entire mall and back again, Naruto decided to stop by one of the entrances of the mall, where it was less crowded._ _

__“Okay, what’s wrong?”_ _

__“Nothing,” Sasuke answered, not looking up to meet Naruto’s gaze. “Let’s just finish this up and go home.”_ _

__“How can we finish anything if nothing here pleases you?”_ _

__“Hn.”_ _

__“How was your last day at work?”_ _

__Sasuke remembered the news he got when he signed the papers to make the end of the internship official; he knew he needed to tell Naruto, and his head hurt more. “Fine,” was all he said._ _

__“Why are you so grumpy?”_ _

__“I’m not grumpy!” Sasuke only realized he had shouted when it was too late. “Sorry,” he said, lowering his head and covering his eyes with his hand. “It was good, I. I’m tired. I’m hungry. I need to tell you something that happened. My head hurts. Can we please just go home?”_ _

__He didn’t need to look up to see Naruto staring at him. He felt a strong hand squeezing his shoulder. “Of course,” his lover said. “Let me just grab some food and we can go, okay? But what about the presents?”_ _

__Sasuke didn’t quite care about damn presents at that very moment. Damn Naruto and him for having enormous families and gift exchange traditions every year. He looked around as best as he could with all the people walking by inside — fuck, even the artificial lights in the building made his eyes hurt — and through the glass doors, outside, where it was darker. Out there, in the sidewalk, he saw a small stand with what appeared to be thematic sweaters on display._ _

__“There.” Sasuke pointed to the small stand, not really caring for how deteriorated it looked; it was out of that place, in the sidewalk, and completely empty of customers. “We’ll buy whatever’s there.”_ _

__Naruto’s eyes followed where Sasuke was pointing. “Are you sure?” he asked, but Sasuke didn’t dignify him with an answer, just crossed the glass doors and walked towards the shabby stand. “Okay, okay.” Naruto had to quicken his pace so he could walk side by side with Sasuke._ _

__Up close, the small stand was even more paltry than Sasuke gave it credit. No customers around, only an old lady and dozens of those typical ugly Christmas sweaters, probably handmade, perhaps by herself. Beside her, lay a scrawny dog. “Good evening,” the old lady greeted with a smile when they approached. She was knitting what appeared to be another sweater._ _

__“You make all of this yourself?” Naruto asked after greeting her back; she nodded. “Wow. It’s really pretty.”_ _

__“Why, thank you, young man,” she laughed, obviously pleased. “Feel free to pick whichever you like.”_ _

__The mutt beside the old woman got up when they approached; it barked at Naruto once and went sniffing his shoes. “Hey, buddy.” Naruto leaned down to caress the pooch. It was old, too thin, and had some purple marks all around its body, probably caused by one of those dogs sprays people usually used. It was an ugly mutt in Sasuke’s eyes. “You’re so beautiful,” Naruto told the dog._ _

__Sasuke ignored them in order to look better at the sweaters. Though he wasn’t particularly keen on the tradition, he couldn’t deny those thematic clothing kinda had their charm. “How much for each?” He asked the lady, who was laughing as the dog licked Naruto’s face all over. The answer quite pleased him: nearly half the price for an equally good sweater compared to the not handmade ones he saw in a store inside. And, if he was going to be really honest, these ones had more details and appeared to be of overall superior work. This lady surely had talent._ _

__Sasuke quickly did the math in his mind and concluded they had enough to buy everyone that was coming over tomorrow in his parents’ house, including a few of Naruto’s cousins and their spouses._ _

__Much better than he had originally planned._ _

__He started picking several sweaters and separating them on the side. He worked quietly, letting Naruto and the old lady talk about her dog — apparently it had a thing Naruto wanted to check out; Sasuke heard Naruto give her his card and insist on making an appointment. “Don’t worry, it’s on me,” Naruto said, and Sasuke heard the woman nervously picking the card from his hand. Normally, Sasuke would stop Naruto from doing such a thing (which he was keen to do) when they were just a step away from the red, financially, but in this case he didn’t mind; the poor lady and her old dog clearly were in need._ _

__About halfway through his work, Naruto got up. “Do you need help?” he asked Sasuke._ _

__“No.”_ _

__“Okay… I’m gonna go fetch some food for us, then, how about that?”_ _

__“And wash up,” Sasuke added for him. He didn’t need to look to see Naruto’s face was all drool._ _

__“And wash up, yeah. Anything else?”_ _

__“No.”_ _

__When Naruto left, the dog lay down again by the old lady’s feet, while her attention was turned to him. “Oh my, you’re gonna take that many?”_ _

__Sasuke paused and looked at her. “Is there a problem?” He internally winced when he heard himself; it came out ruder than he intended. “I mean. If it will trouble you, I can put some back.”_ _

__“No, no! Please.” The woman shook her hands and laughed. “No problem at all. I was just surprised, that’s all. It’s rare for young people to be interested in my knitting. I’ve been here for days and barely sold half a dozen pieces.”_ _

__“Shame,” Sasuke said. “This is quite fine work.” Though he sincerely meant what he said, he had just come across a particularly bright, colorful, exaggerated, plain and simple ugly one; it just didn’t work with itself at all. That one was going to Itachi, he decided, and folded it into the pile he had built by his side._ _

__The lady chuckled. “Why, thank you. Both of you are so polite. So, big family, huh?” she asked, referring to the pile._ _

__Sasuke nodded. “Both of our families are huge. Mine’s even bigger than his.”_ _

__“That’s nice. Mine’s waiting for me in Hoshigakure. Tonight I’m just waiting to wrap this all up and tomorrow morning we’re going to be on our merry way. Right, Honey?” She caressed her dog’s head and sat down. “You two are two good boys. Honey really has been a lot less energetic lately, but I don’t… Your boy is lovely, but I wonder if it’s really okay to—”_ _

__“Don’t worry about that,” Sasuke said, anticipating what she was going to say. “Naruto knows what he’s doing. He’ll take good care of Honey if you just let him.”_ _

__He heard her breathe deeply before smiling and thanking him. Then, she started talking again. Sasuke simply let her ramble, not quite engaging in the conversation, and continued sorting the sweaters._ _

__After several minutes, in which Sasuke learned of the the lady’s niece, who was a naval officer and was coming home after a year and a half away on duty, and her youngest granddaughter, who had just split with her mean ex-husband, and tons of other family dramas, he finally got the last one and announced he was done, just as the glass doors opened again and Naruto left through them._ _

__“Done?” he asked Sasuke, who nodded. He was carrying more plastic bags than before; Sasuke could smell thai food, and his stomach growled._ _

__Honey immediately got up again when he saw Naruto, this time going for the bags, but Naruto didn’t let him get what he wanted. The woman helped Sasuke put the sweaters in a couple of big plastic bags and they paid her. Before walking away, Naruto took out the green bone-shaped rubber toy they had bought earlier._ _

__“For Honey,” he said, throwing the toy low in the air. Honey promptly picked it up in its mouth._ _

__“Oh my.” The lady put her hands in her cheeks, surprised. “That’s just too much, no need to—”_ _

__“Nah, don’t worry. Take it as a Christmas present.” Naruto smiled at her, one of his charming smiles that swell strangers right off the bat. “I’ll be expecting your call, okay?” he said when they both thanked her for the sweaters and walked away._ _

__“Good boys. Such two good boys…” Sasuke heard the woman muttering as they left._ _

__“What about your loyal dog at the clinic?” Sasuke asked Naruto as they crossed the parking lot, walking towards their car._ _

__Naruto shrugged. “I thought Honey would like it more.”_ _

__Sasuke didn’t try to question his logic. “It certainly agrees with him better.” Naruto nodded._ _

__They used to have one car for each when they were fresh out of college, but they sold it and most of the money went to the clinic. Now, they shared an old one they bought from Naruto’s cousin Nagato. Sasuke had memories of being picked up at elementary school by that same car, so, although it was a bit temperamental and gave them some problems in the past few months, he actually was very fond of it. He was not in conditions to drive anymore, so he passed the keys to Naruto._ _

__“You’re really tired, aren’t ya?” Naruto asked as he drove them out of the parking lot, seeing Sasuke lean his head on the passenger’s window._ _

__“Hn.” He didn’t want to talk. His head was killing him, and with the food smell all over the car, now his stomach was killing him, too. He covered his eyes with his hands and stayed in silence._ _

__He might have fallen asleep. Naruto woke him up and Sasuke saw they were already parked in their garage at home. “Do you want me to carry you, princess?” Sasuke actually didn’t think it a bad idea, but just grumbled faintly to himself. Naruto laughed._ _

__After a nice, warm shower, they were sitting together in their tiny couch, the thai food Naruto had bought displayed in the tiny table in front of them. “That’s the best food I’ve ever tasted,” Naruto said, and Sasuke agreed. He was already feeling better, warm and clean and in the process of filling himself like a pig. Even his headache was starting to diminish._ _

__“So, how was your last day at work?” Naruto asked. “You said you had something to talk about with me?”_ _

__“Mm-hmm.” Sasuke leaned back on the couch and let himself enjoy the food as he told Naruto the news. He was practically sure this was going to go all right, but it might go terribly, too. “They asked me if I was interested in a job at the company. A real job, not some unpaid internship anymore.”_ _

__“Wow! Really? That’s great!”_ _

__“There’s more. Remember that form I sent to Kumo University? To apply to a master’s degree there?”_ _

__“You got accepted?!?” Naruto shouted. Sasuke only needed to smile. “Sasuke! That’s _amazing_! Congratulations! I’m so proud.” He leaned in to give his boyfriend a kiss. “But, wait. What about the job?”_ _

__“Well, there’s the thing. The company actually has a branch there. I talked to them, they said they’re fine with me being located there for my education, as long as I arrange my work schedule to so I’m there full time four days a week.”_ _

__“Oh.” Naruto stared at him, until it dawned on him. “Oh. So… you’ll have to move there?”_ _

__Sasuke nodded. “With work and school, commuting everyday will be too much for me. It’s just too far.”_ _

__“When? Did they say?”_ _

__“Classes start early February. They said they want me working full time by then.”_ _

__He watched as Naruto looked down and took a bite of his noodles. It was one of those rare moments Sasuke couldn’t read his lover at all. “It isn’t _too far_ , either, though,” he tried. “We’ll get to see each other all the time, in weekends, holidays. Y’know that.”_ _

__“I know.”_ _

__“Naruto.” Sasuke put his food on the table and slid closer to his boyfriend. He caressed his back and waited for Naruto to answer him. “It’s only for a couple of years.”_ _

__“I’m not mad,” finally, Naruto spoke, “or upset, or anything. It’s a great opportunity. It’s nothing less than what you deserve. I’m happy.”_ _

__“But…?”_ _

__“Just… surprised, that’s all. And a little worried, too.” He chuckled, and put his food on table as well._ _

__“Worried.”_ _

__“Yeah, I mean. Like. What if they aren’t nice to you there, and you have nowhere else to go because of school and I can’t be there for you because of fucking… I don’t know, fucking geography? And what about me? Can I take care of things myself? I nearly spent all of our saving in _pet stuff_ , Sasuke! That’s irresponsible, isn’t it? I was being a brat, wasn’t I?”_ _

__“Yes. And yes. But I’m not worried about any of that.” Sasuke caressed Naruto’s nape, the back of his neck, his ear; it always helped calm him down. “I can take care of myself, and so do you. Besides, I have an easy solution for you and your pet store problem: I’ll just take all credit cards with me.”_ _

__Naruto laughed. “I need to eat, too, you bastard.”_ _

__“I’ll send you your allowance,” he joked, and Naruto punched his thigh lightly._ _

__“What about our money, though? Add a job, but add another home, we’re still struggling.”_ _

__“Hmm. True. But, well.” Sasuke shrugged. “That’s just how it is, school, business, and all. I didn’t expect this phase to pass so soon.”_ _

__Naruto leaned back on the couch, forcing Sasuke to take his hand away. He sighed, looking much more relaxed now. “You are so calm about this. Like you have everything planned. As always. You economists and your money math.”_ _

__Sasuke laughed. “Be thankful.”_ _

__“I am.” He eyed Sasuke intensely. Moments later, Sasuke was being pulled by the shirt. “C’mere.” Naruto pulled them down, making both of them lie in the tiny couch together, Sasuke half on Naruto, Naruto half out of the couch. Naruto hugged him tightly. “I’m so proud of you, y’know that?” He kissed Sasuke’s cheeks, nose, mouth, jaw, all between words. “You’re so. Freaking. Smart. And. Competent. Damn, you smell good. C’mere.”_ _

__“I’m here.”_ _

__“Come here more.”_ _

__Sasuke shifted so his weight was fully on Naruto, just as his lover liked it. They kissed for a while, caressing each other under their clothes. Naruto lightly pulled Sasuke’s hair, then opened his hand and run his fingers through it, as if he couldn’t decide if he wanted to take Sasuke or be taken by him. They talked in whispers, between kisses._ _

__“There couldn’t be a better opportunity,” Sasuke whispered on Naruto’s lips._ _

__“I know,” Naruto whispered back._ _

__“I’d be a fool to reject it.”_ _

__“I know.”_ _

__“I want it.”_ _

__“I want it too.”_ _

__“Naruto…”_ _

__“Sasuke, aah…”_ _

__Later in the night, when the world around them was silent and dark, they lay together on the floor, naked, eating the rest of the food that had by then turned cold. Sasuke watched disinterested the Christmas lights rhythmically turning on and off on the tiny plastic tree they had set in the corner of the living room._ _

__“Hey.” Naruto touched Sasuke’s feet with his own, to draw his attention. “How’s your headache?”_ _

__“Better.”_ _

__“Must have been stress.”_ _

__“Probably. I really need to sleep, though.”_ _

__“I vouch for us getting there late tomorrow.”_ _

__“Great. There’s still all those sweaters to wrap up and tag, anyway.”_ _

__“Leave it to me,” Naruto said. “I like wrapping presents.”_ _

__“The ugliest one is for Itachi.”_ _

__Naruto laughed. “Your wish is my command. I’m gonna tell him it was your idea, though.”_ _

__Sasuke shrugged. “Serves him right.” He yawned._ _

__“Come here.” Naruto pulled him closer. “Sleep on my shoulder.” He caressed Sasuke’s hair slowly, just the way Sasuke liked. It never failed to help him sleep. He was already dreading missing it in Kumo. It was going to be just like Oto all over again, except for the freshman excitement he once had, which had actually helped him early on. Abandoning those thoughts for the moment, Sasuke closed his eyes and let Naruto’s presence lull him into sleep._ _


	12. That Kind of Love You Want Forever

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I missed the deadline for 12 days of SNS Xmas 2015 AND 2016. Oh, well. ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯
> 
> Day 12: Merry Christmas.

On the outskirts of the desert of Suna, about three hours southeast from the Naruto's alma mater, rose a short mountain range just by the borders between Wind Country and the Land of Rivers. Though not very tall nor very large, it was a tourist attraction as much as nativity pride. It was called the Wellsprings mountain range, because underneath the heights run several springs that flowed towards, and, therefore, originated the Great Rivers in the neighboring land. The locals just called it the Windy Peaks, though, for the constant air current that flowed through the top of the mountains.

Naruto had spent an entire weekend there on sophomore year, camping and sightseeing with a bunch of friends from university. It was one of the best trips of his life, if not the best one, and ever since then, Naruto had wanted to bring Sasuke there as well. They couldn't really afford a trip like that until now — they were still a bit at risk, but the clinic was doing great (Naruto even had to hire an assistant!) and Sasuke's career was slowly but steadily launching.

Climbing to the top of the mountains took about one day and a half, but for the sake of sightseeing, they took it slowly, following the route commonly used by tourists. The first stretch of lower peaks took more hiking than actual climbing, and they stopped every few hours to just chill and enjoy themselves, which doubled their journey time.

"Look," Naruto yelled against the wind when they reached the last of the lower, easier peaks. From now on, they would need to use all the climbing gear they brought. "Isn't it beautiful, Sasuke? Look at it! Breathe this air." He straightened as much as the heavy backpack would allow and stretched his arms. Eyes closed, he took a deep breath. "Can you feel it?"

Sasuke was right behind Naruto, heavy travel bag on his back and camera on hand. Although he had heard thousands of times already about this place and seen the thousands of photos that Naruto brought home more than he could count, he had to admit: in person, the sight was even more beautiful. Despite the constant weeping of the wind and the menacing-looking sharp rocks that formed the peaks, there was a calmness in this place that was special, he could tell. Sasuke took photos all along the way, of the view, of the few animals that happened to cross their paths briefly before running away, and of Naruto.

Naruto was elated. The place was just like he remembered and more. Better. When he was younger, in the midst of his excitement, he had favored drinking and defying his own body in insane climbing races than actually paying attention to the scenario around him. Now, older and considerably less stupid, he was looking to enjoy his time there with Sasuke, and make the best of it.

Sasuke observed his lover. It was like Naruto was finding himself in those mountains, and it showed. Naruto was all smiles and exhilaration, and didn't seem to get tired (or willing to shut up) even after hours or hiking. Though Sasuke was no professional photographer, he took to himself to snap candid photos of Naruto all day, trying to capture at least some of what he saw Naruto feeling. He thought he was succeeding just enough.

"Hey, Sasuke, we're almost in that place I told you about."

Sasuke managed to capture the exact moment Naruto turned to talk to him. He was smiling cheek to cheek. There was visible excitement shining in his blue eyes, his hair flowed along with the wind, the tan skin even more alluring under the hard sun that was their constant company throughout the day. Sasuke couldn't not take a moment to observe the photo in the digital display, already deciding he _had_ to frame that picture and put it somewhere, until he felt Naruto's fingers caressing his cheeks.

"You're red," Naruto told him, serious. "You didn't put sunscreen like I told you to?"

"I did."

"Well, then you need more."

Sasuke rolled his eyes. "I'm fine," he said, though he did feel his cheeks very hot.

"We could stop here for lunch, too. I know I'm starving."

"All right," Sasuke relented. The sun was high in the sky, the weather too hot even with the never-ending wind flow. Naruto was drenched in sweat.

They didn't set up camp, only threw a picnic towel by the side of the trail for them to sit. It was nice to relieve their backs and shoulders from the bags for a little while.

The recommendation was to only bring high energy level food and drinks, as well as protein bars and maybe some fruits, but, "Fuck it, we're on vacation," Naruto had said to that. He packed a few lunch boxes in a medium-sized thermal box with everything they were entitled to: meat, mashed potatoes, even lasagna. How Naruto managed to carry it all so far was a mystery. Naruto imagined he drew that kind of force from his cheer will to eat good, though. So be it.

Naruto was checking his phone while they ate. "Mom says we better take care and come back alive. And bring her some souvenirs. 'Even some rocks or something is fine'," he imitated his mother's voice, and they laughed. "Itachi is annoyed that you aren't answering his messages."

"I turned my phone off a long time ago."

"Really? Why? Shisui also says to take care. Menma, too, and he wants... a goat tail? I don't know what the fuck he wants. Also, Itachi and Shisui want your opinion on some investment they're thinking of making, apparently? I don't know."

"Naruto, we're on vacation. Turn that damn thing off and eat your food."

"I will, I will. Lemme just wish people Merry Christmas, will ya? There's no signal up there."

It was Christmas Eve. It was the first time they were going to spend Christmas without their families. "Isn't that kinda weird?" Naruto asked over his lunch, pausing the texting for a bit. "No snow, no house full of people telling the same jokes."

Sasuke considered. "Not really. Just a little. It's nice. I wished for a Christmas alone with you for a long time."

Sasuke's words made Naruto smile and blush slightly. "Really?"

"Really," Sasuke replied, tenderly.

They kissed slowly, softly for a couple of minutes, Naruto left warm and cozy and pleased when he drew back. He held Sasuke's gaze for a few seconds before giggling and hiding his face on his boyfriend's shoulder. "Stop it, Sasuke. You make me silly."

"You are silly on your own. I'm not doing anything."

Naruto chuckled. His phone alerted a new text message and he went back to it.

After finishing his lunch, Sasuke laid down while Naruto texted. Sasuke closed his eyes, resting his back and enjoying the warmth of the sun. It could get cold pretty fast with the stronger wind currents, but at that very moment, there was only a breeze passing by. He was almost drifting into a nap when Naruto hovered over him and caressed his cheeks once again.

"Ouch."

"Did that hurt?"

"Not hurt, just..." Sasuke passed the tip of his fingers lightly where Naruto had just touched and felt the distinct discomfort of sunburn. "It's kinda aching."

"It's the sun. You're very red. Here, put more sunscreen."

Sasuke tried to complain, but Naruto was insistent and moved fast. Soon his face was all oily with sunscreen and sweat. "I hate how it feels," Sasuke complained. He felt his skin gross. Naruto chuckled.

"I know, but it's for your own good. Your skin is too sensitive to the sun."

After they were well rested, they packed their stuff and Naruto drew the climbing gears from both of their bags. He helped Sasuke put the equipment on, then turned off his cellphone after one last check. Finally, he adjusted Sasuke's hat so it would protect his face better.

"You look like those tourists," Naruto mocked. Sasuke glared at him, though he probably did.

They spent the rest of the afternoon climbing and hiking the first harder peaks. Sasuke kept the camera attached to him by a collar, like a necklace, but it was difficult for him to snap photos, even more candid photos of Naruto. He did, however, took one of Naruto's butt when Naruto climbed above him for a while.

Eventually, they needed to stop once again. It was getting darker and colder by the minute, and one of the first instructions given to them by the local guides was to never hike or climb at night. That one they agreed to follow. Besides, they were already tired as it was.

"Let's set up camp for the night," Naruto decided. They had progressed considerably fast, he realized, noticing they were already halfway through the higher and most difficult peaks. They might even reach the top the next day.

They found a small clearing that appeared to be man-made. It was probably one of the pit-stops set for tourists. Sasuke and Naruto had encountered a group of tourists hiking on the very first hour they started, but they managed to lose them. Luckily enough, there was no one else there.

Sasuke helped as he could to set up the camp, but Naruto did most of the job. Naruto had packed some marshmallows and hotdogs for them to eat, but after thoroughly searching in both travel bags, he realized he'd forgotten the equipment necessary to set up a proper camping barbecue. So they had to improvise with some rocks and dried sticks.

Naruto taught Sasuke how to set the fire up. "Yes, like that." He supervised his lover's work as he opened the bag of marshmallows a couple of meter away. "Careful with the wind and the sticks. No, hey, lemme—no, no caref—"

"Shit."

Naruto put the plastic bag on the floor and rushed to see Sasuke's hand. "Damn, Sasuke. What is it with you and getting burned today?"

Sasuke glared at him. "At least the fire is up."

"True." Naruto gave him a half smile, arching his eyebrows, as if to say 'I can't believe it'. "It's light, but these kind of burns hurt the most."

"Great," Sasuke muttered.

"Don't let it ruin your mood." He kissed Sasuke's hand where it wasn't burned. "I'm gonna get some ointment."

To his favour, Naruto only mocked Sasuke’s lack of ability in outside activities once. He treated Sasuke's hand as best as he could with what he brought; thankfully, he had already predicted something like that could happened — one of his friends had an almost too serious injuries all those years ago, when they were hiking down the mountains — so he had put a well-kept first aid kit in Sasuke's bag.

The fire proved to be enough for their hotdogs and marshmallows, thankfully to Sasuke's pride. They ate as they talked, Naruto almost the entire time carefully holding Sasuke's hand, properly wrapped in gauze.

"This place is so... It's so nice," Naruto said. "Why is it so nice? Man, I don't wanna go back ever again."

"What about your clients? You sure they can live without you?"

Naruto didn't have an answer to that, so he a couple of hotdogs. "Would you move to Rivers if I asked you to?"

"Why? So we're closer to these mountains?"

"It's just a thought."

Sasuke chose his words carefully. "Naruto, if you have too much of something good, you'll end up spoiling it."

Naruto turned to Sasuke. He looked like he was honestly considering that logic. "You never got spoiled, though," he rebutted, "even after all those years."

Sasuke cocked his head, letting out puffs of hot air as he lost his breath. He smiled, his face showing exasperated patience as he spoke: "You, on the other hand, is a spoiled little brat."

"Hey!" Naruto pouted, but it didn't last against the marshmallow he was eating. "Take that back."

Sasuke thought for a minute. "Let's extend this trip until next year."

"What, seriously?"

"Mhmm." Sasuke nodded. "I'm on vacations until the fifth and you can delay reopening the clinic for a couple more days."

"Sasuke..." Naruto was beaming. "You're the freaking best, did you know that?"

"I _do_ know that, actually." Sasuke matched Naruto's expression as Naruto leaned to kiss him. Soon the kisses became hard, long, needy and welcome. It was an entirely different thrill to kiss so high up there, the shortness of breath taking over as they drew thin air between hisses and moans.

They made love under the moonlight, the wind, the stars and nature as their only company. It was cold and it was difficult to breathe, but that only added to the sensation of wildness that took them as they tangled their bodies together. In those heights, for a delicious moment, Sasuke and Naruto felt as if they were the only people alive in the entire world. Both relished on that thought, reaching for one another with all their being as they came undone together in each others arms.

It was still dark when Sasuke woke up hours later. Naruto slept on his chest, legs tangles with his and hugging his torso. Even though they had set up camp, they ended up improvising a makeshift bed and covers and fell asleep under the stars. Sasuke waited for who knew how long, just basking in the feel of Naruto's warm body tangled with his, Naruto's warm breath on his naked chest. The winds never, ever stopped, and it was freaking cold, but that was secondary in Sasuke's priorities.

When the sky started to change its colors, becoming less dark and more blue, Sasuke decided it was time to wake Naruto up.

"Naruto," he called softly, caressing Naruto's scalp. "Wake up. It's time."

"Hmm... Five more minutes."

"You don't wanna see the sunrise anymore?"

That made Naruto turn on his back, disentangling from Sasuke. He stretched, yawned, whined. "It's too early."

"We still have to tidy everything up."

Soon there could be more groups of tourists hiking to where they were; neither thought highly of the possibility of being seen in the midst of their intimacy. They tidied everything up, saving every non-organic trash in their bags to throw away later, down the feet of the mountains. After cleaning themselves up as best as they could, they dressed and sat down on the picnic blanket, turned to the east. They had the rest of the marshmallows, kisses and some peanuts for breakfast as they waited for the day to rise.

The sky didn't hold on turning light blue, yellow and pink. The sun was rising.

"Put your sunglasses."

"Aawwww, maaan. It's not even day yet, the sun isn't even high."

"Do as I say, Naruto."

"Hmpf."

First what hit them were cool sunbeams of orange and yellow colors. The soft yellow glow slowly ascended through the horizon, illuminating both Sasuke and Naruto as well as the rest of the world, that slowly but steadily (and somewhat annoyingly) made itself present again. The sun was big and imposing, although harmonic with everything else its light touched. It rose in the sky in its own pace, producing the hands down best image the lovers had ever seen. If there could be a more satisfying moment, Naruto thought, it was going to spoil life for him.

"Hey." Naruto bumped his shoulder on Sasuke's. "Merry Christmas," he said, tenderly.

Their gazes met and, for a brief moment, before real life ambitions and frustrations sneaked into their way of thinking, Sasuke and Naruto shared a thought: I have everything I want right here with me. My life is complete, they were sure, even though they were only halfway through their journey, and there were still many more heights to climb.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> To all those who followed me through this holiday fic, thank you so much! It was mainly your support that convinced me to continue and finish this <3 To all who got this far, thanks for reading, I’d really appreciate your thoughts. To everyone, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!


End file.
